Balance Sheets » How Do I Use the Numbers » Financial Condition » Exercises www.navigatingaccounting.com E X E R C I S E S bs.hun.afc.050 Analyzing balance sheets and financial condition (Analysis Mini-Case Series) This exercise has an open-ended question that allows for several good alternative responses. While there aren’t correct responses to the question, some are definitely better than others. Generally, responses are better to the extent they identify and fully vet arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttals, include appropriate qualifiers, and provide insights regarding the way you assessed the relative merits of the arguments, counterarguments and rebuttals. See The Toulmin Model of Argumentation as a reference. Additionally, responses must cite sources and use quotation marks when copying word for word. Admittedly, this is overkill here because you can only use the provided information and the companies’ balance sheets. However, citing here is good practice for situations where there are fewer or no restrictions on the admissible information. Still, you needn’t cite the provided tabular data or the companies’ balance sheets. For this exercise, you will need to understand the concept of “non-controlling interest”. To lean more, watch Scenic: Reporting Entity. Required In this exercise, you will explore the financial health of two leading providers of telecommunications services: AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Your analysis will be based solely on the background information and tabular data herein and on the companies’ balance sheets. (We explain how you can locate these balance sheets after the tabular data is presented later.) Based solely on concepts covered thus far in the course, the provided information and the companies’ balance sheets, which company, AT&T or Verizon, appears to have had stronger financial health at the end of 2013? Take into consideration (in general terms) the balance sheet consequences of Verizon’s impeding acquisition of Vodafone’s share of the Cellco Partnership. Respond to this question by completing Parts I - III. Write your responses in the MS Word template posted with the exercise materials, complying with the word limits stated therein. Background Information Excerpts from AT&T’s 2013 10K and Annual Report “We are a leading provider of telecommunications services in the United States and the world. We offer our services and products to consumers in the U.S. and services and products to businesses and other providers of telecommunications services worldwide. The services and products that we offer vary by market, and include: wireless communications, local exchange services, long-distance services, data/broadband and Internet services, video services, telecommunications equipment, managed networking, and wholesale services. We group our operating subsidiaries as follows, corresponding to our operating segments for financial reporting purposes: You may customize this work, as long as you credit G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson and respect the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike United States license. © 1991–2014 NavAcc LLC. www.navigatingaccounting.com Usage This exercise helps you learn how to use accounting information. 2 NAVIGATING ACCOUNTING® • wireless subsidiaries provide both wireless voice and data communications services across the U.S. and, through roaming agreements, in a substantial number of foreign countries. • wireline subsidiaries provide primarily landline voice and data communication services, AT&T U-verse® high-speed broadband, video, and voice services (U-verse) and managed networking to business customers. • other subsidiaries include results from corporate and other operations, our portion of results from our equity investments and impacts from corporate-wide decisions for which the individual operating segments are not being evaluated.” AT&T’s 201310K, page 1 “In the United States, we now cover all major metropolitan areas and nearly 280 million people with our LTE technology. We expect to cover approximately 300 million people and to be essentially complete by the summer of 2014. We also provide 4G coverage using various other technologies (UMTS and HSPA+), and when combined with our upgraded backhaul, we are able to enhance our network capabilities and provide superior mobile broadband speeds for data and video services. … As the wireless industry continues to mature, we believe that future wireless growth will increasingly depend on our ability to offer innovative data services and a wireless network that has sufficient spectrum and capacity to support these innovations. We are facing significant spectrum and capacity constraints on our wireless network in certain markets. We expect such constraints to increase and expand to additional markets in the coming years. While we are continuing to invest significant capital in expanding our network capacity, our capacity constraints could affect the quality of existing voice and data services and our ability to launch new, advanced wireless broadband services, unless we are able to obtain more spectrum. Any long-term spectrum solution will require that the FCC make new or existing spectrum available to the wireless industry to meet the expanding needs of our subscribers. We will continue to attempt to address spectrum and capacity constraints on a market-by-market basis. To that end, we closed more than 60 deals to acquire spectrum and wireless operations during 2013.” AT&T’s 2013 10K, page 2 “COMPETITION Competition continues to increase for telecommunications and information services. Technological advances have expanded the types and uses of services and products available. In addition, lack of or a reduced level of regulation of comparable alternatives (e.g., cable, wireless and VoIP providers) has lowered costs for these alternative communications service providers. As a result, we face heightened competition as well as some new opportunities in significant portions of our business. Wireless We face substantial and increasing competition in all aspects of our wireless business. Under current FCC rules, multiple licensees, including six or more PCS licensees, two cellular licensees and one or more enhanced specialized mobile radio licensee may operate in each of our service areas, which results in the potential presence of multiple competitors. Our competitors include brands such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile, Metro PCS and Cricket Wireless, a larger number of regional providers of cellular, PCS and other wireless communications services and resellers of those services .... In addition, we face competition from providers who offer voice, text messaging and other services as applications on data networks. More than 97 percent of the U.S. population lives in areas with at least three mobile telephone operators, and 90 percent of the population lives in areas with at least five competing carriers. We may experience significant competition from companies that provide similar services using other communications technologies and services. While some of these technologies and services are now operational, others are being developed or may be developed. We compete for customers based principally on service/device offerings, price, call quality, coverage area and customer service. …… © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson 3 E X E R C I S E B S . H U N . A F C . 050 Wireline Our wireline subsidiaries will face continued competitive pressure in 2014 from multiple providers, including wireless, cable and other VoIP providers, interexchange carriers and resellers. In addition, economic pressures are leading customers to terminate their traditional local wireline service and use competitive wireless and Internet-based services, intensifying a pre-existing trend toward wireless and Internet use. In most markets, we compete, often on pricing of bundled services, with large cable companies, such as Comcast Corporation, Cox Communications Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc., for local, high-speed Internet, video and voice services customers and other smaller telecommunications companies for both long-distance and local services customers.” AT&T’s 2013 Annual Report, page 24 AT&T’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report AT&T paid $20,944, $19,465, and $20,110 million for capital expenditures, respectively, during these years. NOTE: Capital expenditures pertains to the cost to acquire or construct long-term assets. AT&T’s 2013 Annual Report, page 43 AT&T’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report AT&T paid shareholders $13,028, $12,752, and $0 million to repurchase shares, respectively, during these years. AT&T’s 2013 Annual Report, page 43 AT&T’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report that AT&T paid shareholders $9,696, $10,241, and $10,172 million of cash dividends, respectively, during these years. NOTE: Share repurchases and cash dividends decrease cash and owners’ equity. AT&T’s 2013 Annual Report, page 43 Excerpts from Verizon’s 2013 10K and Annual Report “Verizon Communications Inc. (Verizon, or the Company) is a holding company that, acting through its subsidiaries, is one of the world’s leading providers of communications, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and governmental agencies with a presence in over 150 countries around the world. … We have two reportable segments, Wireless and Wireline … Our Wireless segment is primarily comprised of Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless. Cellco Partnership is a joint venture formed in April 2000 by the combination of the U.S. wireless operations and interests of Verizon and Vodafone Group Plc (Vodafone). As of December 31, 2013, Verizon owned a controlling 55% interest in Verizon Wireless and Vodafone owned the remaining 45%. ... Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless service provider in the United States as measured by retail connections and revenue. At December 31, 2013, Verizon Wireless had 102.8 million retail connections and 2013 revenues of approximately $81.0 billion, representing approximately 67% of Verizon’s aggregate revenues. We have substantially completed the deployment of our 4G LTE network. Our 4G LTE network is available to 97% of the U.S. population in more than 500 markets covering approximately 305 million people, including those in areas served by our LTE in Rural America partners. Under this program, we are working with wireless carriers in rural areas to collaboratively build and operate a 4G LTE network using each carrier’s network assets and our core 4G LTE equipment and 700 MHz C-Block spectrum. Our 4G LTE network provides higher data throughput performance for data services at a lower cost compared to that provided via 3G networks.” Verizon’s 2013 10K, page 2 “On September 2, 2013, Verizon entered into a stock purchase agreement (the Stock Purchase Agreement) with Vodafone Group Plc (Vodafone) and Vodafone 4 Limited (Seller), pursuant to which Verizon agreed to acquire Vodafone’s indirect 45% interest in Cellco Partnership d/b/a [doing business as] Verizon Wireless (the Partnership, and such interest, the Vodafone Interest) for aggregate consideration of approximately $130 billion. On February 21, 2014, pursuant to the terms and subject to the © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson 4 NAVIGATING ACCOUNTING® conditions set forth in the Stock Purchase Agreement, Verizon acquired (the Wireless Transaction) from Seller all of the issued and outstanding capital stock (the Transferred Shares) of Vodafone Americas Finance 1 Inc., a subsidiary of Seller (VF1 Inc.), which indirectly through certain subsidiaries (together with VF1 Inc., the Purchased Entities) owned the Vodafone Interest. The consideration paid was primarily comprised of cash of approximately $58.89 billion and Verizon common stock with a value of approximately $60.15 billion.” Verizon’s 2013 Annual Report, page 2 Note: To clarify, on February 21, 2014 Verizon achieved total ownership of the Wireless business by giving Vodafone (the noncontrolling interest) $58.89 billion cash and $60.15 billion Verizon stock in exchange for Vodafone’s ownership interest in the partnership. Note: Most of the Noncontrolling Interests reported on Verizon’s December 31, 2013 balance sheet was associated with the Cellco Partnership. In fact, Verizon only reported $1,140 million of Noncontrolling Interests on its March 31, 2014 balance sheet (at the end of the first quarter of 2014, after acquiring Vodafone’s interest). Note: The accounting related to this deal is way beyond the scope of this exercise (and rather counter intuitive). All you need to know is Verizon’s March 31, 2014 balance sheet reported total assets of $221,562 million and total owners’ equity of $13,851 million. However, the market value of Verizon’s owners’ equity was far larger on March 31, 2014: $201,697 million = $47.57 per share x 4,240 million shares. “During the third quarter of 2013, Verizon’s credit ratings were downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s), Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (Standard & Poor’s) and Fitch Ratings (Fitch) as a result of Verizon’s announcement of the agreement to acquire Vodafone’s 45% noncontrolling interest in Verizon Wireless for approximately $130 billion including the incurrence of third-party indebtedness to fund the cash portion of the purchase price for the Wireless Transaction. Moody’s downgraded Verizon’s long-term debt ratings one notch from A3 to Baa1, while Standard & Poor’s lowered its corporate credit rating and senior unsecured debt rating one notch from A- to BBB+ and Fitch lowered its long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured debt rating one notch from A to A-. Although the ratings downgrade is not expected to significantly impact our access to capital, it could increase both the cost of refinancing debt and the cost of financing any new capital requirements. Securities ratings assigned by rating organizations are expressions of opinion and are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. A securities rating is subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the assigning rating organization. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating.” Verizon’s 2013 Annual Report, page 26 Verizon’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report Verizon paid $16,604, $16,175, and $16,244 million for capital expenditures, respectively, during these years. Verizon’s 2013 Annual Report, page 41 Verizon’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report Verizon paid Verizon shareholders $153, $0, and $0 million to repurchase Verizon shares, respectively, during these years. Verizon’s 2013 Annual Report, page 41 Verizon’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report that Verizon paid Verizon shareholders $5,936, $5,230, and $5,555 million of cash dividends, respectively, during these years. Verizon’s 2013 Annual Report, page 41 Verizon’s 2013-2011 statements of cash flows report that Verizon paid non-controlling interests $3,150, $8,325, and $0 million of “special distributions,” respectively, during these years. Verizon’s 2013 Annual Report, page 41 Excerpts from Q4 2013 Verizon Earnings Conference Call Fran Shammo - Verizon Communications Inc. - EVP & CFO “2013 was a great year for Verizon from both a strategic and financial perspective. Of course, the big strategic milestone was in our agreement to purchase Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, which will give us sole ownership of the best asset in the global wireless industry…. Full ownership will also provide access to all the cash flows and give us greater flexibility to develop converged solutions without any integration and due diligence risks. © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson 5 E X E R C I S E B S . H U N . A F C . 050 Our strategy is to build upon the foundation and strength of our network assets as the platforms for the future growth and innovation. To that end, we are extremely well positioned in the center of the trends that are driving growth in our industry: mobility, broadband, video, cloud services, and security. Sole ownership of Verizon Wireless, along with our portfolio of other assets, will enable us to better leverage our capabilities across the entire business…. We have a positive track record in terms of deleveraging the balance sheet. Our pre-transaction leverage ratios were very low and we utilized cash to retire $8.1 billion in bonds during 2013. Even though we have more debt, our balance sheet remains strong and we retain the financial flexibility needed to grow the business.” Q4 2013 Verizon Earnings Conference Call, January 21, 2014 Excerpt from CNN Money Article: Verizon Swings to Profit “Competition between cell phone companies is heating up once again, but Verizon has so far managed to stay above the fray. The telecommunications giant announced strong earnings after adding nearly 1.6 million new wireless customers under contract in the last quarter of 2013 -- down from 2.1 million a year ago, but up 70% from the third quarter. Verizon swung to a profit of $5.1 billion, following a steep $4.2 billion loss a year ago when Hurricane Sandy caused significant issues for the company…. Jonathan Schildkraut, a managing director at Evercore Partners, was impressed that 70% of Verizon Wireless’ customers now have a smart phone -- generally a more expensive monthly plan. That was up from 58% a year ago. As a result, Verizon is making more money from its customers. The average customer account pays Verizon more than $157 per month, up 7% from the same time a year ago.” By Steve Hargreaves, CNN Money, January 21, 2014 Excerpts from VentureBeat News Article “As of today, Verizon finally has full control over its wireless future. British telecom company Vodafone, which has held a 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless since the joint venture’s founding in 1999, announced this morning that Verizon’s $130 billion buyout of its stake will close today. First announced back in September, the transaction is the third-largest corporate deal ever. The buyout will allow Verizon to make strategic wireless moves without being beholden to a partner, and it gives Vodafone oodles of cash to pay off debts.” VentureBeat News, Devindra Hardawar, February 21, 2014 Quantitative Tabular Data and Locating Companies’ Reported Balance Sheets The quantitative tabular data provided on the next page summarizes information from the companies’ annual reports and computes related ratios. To facilitate comparison across the companies, the tabular data combines related line items and includes some line items in “other”. For example, “other current assets” in the tabular data includes all current asset line items reported by the company not presented elsewhere in the tabular data. You may want to locate and download the companies’ actual annual reports for your analysis to determine what the tabular data summarized. To learn how to locate and download these documents and find the balance sheets therein, watch Searching and Locating Annual Reports 1. © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson 6 NAVIGATING ACCOUNTING® Comparing Balance Sheets in the Telecom Industry Numbers below are either disclosed on the company's balance sheets with similar captions or they combine numbers with related captions. AT&T Inc. Assets Current assets Cash and cash equivalents Receivables Inventories Other current assets Total current assets Property, plant and equipment net Goodwill and intangible assets Other non-current assets Total assets Liabilities Current liabilities Accounts payable Other current liabilities Total current liabilities Long-term debt (less current maturities) Other noncurrent liabilities Total liabilities Stockholders' equity Common stock (paid-in capital less treasury stock) Retained Earnings Other stockholders' equity Noncontrolling interests Total stockholders' equity Total liabilities and shareholders' equity RATIOS Level 1 Financial leverage (year-end) Liabilities/assets Level 2 Working capital Current assets ‐ current liabilities Current ratio Current assets/ current liabilities Level 3 Common Size Balance Sheet Line item/total assets Assets Cash and cash equivalents Receivables Inventories Other current assets Total current assets Property, plant and equipment net Goodwill and intangible assets Other non-current assets Total assets Liabilities Accounts payable Other current liabilities Total current liabilities Long-term debt (less current maturities) Other noncurrent liabilities Total liabilities Stockholders' equity Common stock (paid-in capital less treasury stock) Retained Earnings Other stockholders' equity Noncontrolling interests Total stockholders' equity Total liabilities and shareholders' equity Market's perception of missed or incorrectly measured BS items Market-to-book ratio Shares outstanding (issued - treasury) Fiscal year-end price per share (historical quote) Market value of stockholders' equity Book value of stockholders' equity Market-to-book ratio 31-Dec-13 Verizon Communications Inc. year end 31-Dec-12 31-Dec-11 USD Millions $ 31-Dec-10 31-Dec-13 year end 31-Dec-12 31-Dec-11 USD Millions $ 31-Dec-10 3,339 12,918 ‐ 6,939 23,196 110,968 131,485 12,138 277,787 4,868 12,657 ‐ 5,181 22,706 109,767 128,548 11,294 272,315 3,185 13,606 ‐ 6,236 23,027 107,087 130,185 10,045 270,344 1,437 13,610 ‐ 5,807 20,854 103,196 134,121 11,220 269,391 53,528 12,439 1,020 4,007 70,994 88,956 106,181 7,967 274,098 3,093 12,576 1,075 4,491 21,235 88,642 107,816 7,529 225,222 13,362 11,776 940 4,861 30,939 88,434 102,485 8,603 230,461 6,668 11,781 1,131 2,768 22,348 87,711 100,814 9,132 220,005 21,107 13,888 34,995 69,290 82,020 186,305 20,494 11,293 31,787 66,358 81,475 179,620 19,858 10,936 30,794 61,300 72,453 164,547 20,055 14,799 34,854 58,971 63,616 157,441 16,453 10,597 27,050 89,658 61,974 178,682 16,182 10,774 26,956 47,618 65,115 139,689 14,689 16,072 30,761 50,303 63,489 144,553 15,702 14,895 30,597 45,252 57,244 133,093 51,967 31,141 7,880 494 91,482 277,787 64,645 22,481 5,236 333 92,695 272,315 76,901 25,453 3,180 263 105,797 270,344 77,143 31,792 2,712 303 111,950 269,391 34,275 1,782 2,779 56,580 95,416 274,098 34,216 (3,734) 2,675 52,376 85,533 225,222 33,214 1,179 1,577 49,938 85,908 230,461 32,952 4,368 1,249 48,343 86,912 220,005 67% 66% 61% 58% 65% 62% 63% 60% (11,799) (9,081) (7,767) (14,000) 43,944 (5,721) 178 (8,249) 0.66 0.71 0.75 0.60 2.62 0.79 1.01 0.73 1% 5% 0% 2% 8% 40% 47% 4% 100% 2% 5% 0% 2% 8% 40% 47% 4% 100% 1% 5% 0% 2% 9% 40% 48% 4% 100% 1% 5% 0% 2% 8% 38% 50% 4% 100% 20% 5% 0% 1% 26% 32% 39% 3% 100% 1% 6% 0% 2% 9% 39% 48% 3% 100% 6% 5% 0% 2% 13% 38% 44% 4% 100% 3% 5% 1% 1% 10% 40% 46% 4% 100% 8% 5% 13% 25% 30% 67% 8% 4% 12% 24% 30% 66% 7% 4% 11% 23% 27% 61% 7% 5% 13% 22% 24% 58% 6% 4% 10% 33% 23% 65% 7% 5% 12% 21% 29% 62% 6% 7% 13% 22% 28% 63% 7% 7% 14% 21% 26% 60% 19% 11% 3% 0% 33% 100% 24% 8% 2% 0% 34% 100% 28% 9% 1% 0% 39% 100% 29% 12% 1% 0% 42% 100% 13% 1% 1% 21% 35% 100% 15% ‐2% 1% 23% 38% 100% 14% 1% 1% 22% 37% 100% 15% 2% 1% 22% 40% 100% 5,226 5,581 5,927 5,911 $ 35.16 $ 33.71 $ 30.24 $ 29.38 183,757 188,149 179,218 173,668 91,482 92,695 105,797 111,950 2.01 2.03 1.69 1.55 2,862 2,859 2,834 2,827 $ 49.14 $ 43.27 $ 40.12 $ 35.78 140,639 123,690 113,700 101,150 95,416 85,533 85,908 86,912 1.47 1.45 1.32 1.16 Source: Companies' websites See accompanying notes in annual reports. © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson 7 E X E R C I S E B S . H U N . A F C . 050 Write your response to Parts I - III in the Microsoft Word template posted with the exercise materials, complying with the word limits stated therein. Part I: Your qualified claim and opening remarks Claim: Fill in the blank with either AT&T or Verizon: appears to have had stronger financial health at the end of 2013. [AT&T or Verizon] Take into consideration (in general terms) the balance sheet consequences of Verizon’s impeding acquisition of Vodafone’s share of the Cellco Partnership. Qualifiers: Put an X at the spot on the scale below that indicates the likelihood your claim is correct, given the available information and concepts covered thus far. After completing Parts II and III, put an X at the spot on the scale below that indicates the likelihood your claim is correct, given the available information and concepts covered thus far. Your response should depend on the strength of your arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttals to counterarguments. For example, when you conclude your arguments and counterarguments are equally strong, your X will be near the middle of the scale. By contrast, when you conclude your arguments are very strong and there are no viable counterarguments, your X will be near the right end of the scale. Given these directions, your response should ignore the possibility that other relevant information exists that could change your arguments, counterarguments, or rebuttals, and thus the confidence you have in your claim. As the course progresses and you learn how to acquire and use a wider range of information, your confidence will become more informed and your certainty will increase. Your assessment of the likelihood the claim is correct (and thus where you place the X) may not agree with an expert’s assessment (conditional on the same background information and concepts covered thus far). For example, you will be too confident if you overlook important counterarguments. Similarly, you will not be confident enough if you overlook strong rebuttals to your counterarguments. Learning how to make informed claims by identifying and thoroughly vetting more arguments, counterarguments and rebuttals is the first step towards making good decisions based on these claims. For example, deciding whether you should invest in a stock after concluding it will outperform other stocks. The second step, which is equally important, is properly assessing the confidence you should attribute to a claim. The third is convincing others your analysis is solid and your confidence is justified. Absolute Uncertainty Unlikely Absolute Certainty Possibly Likely Probably The Toulmin Method of Argumentation: The Second Triad, Keith Green http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gRaC_vZiD8 Opening remarks: Assume you are presenting your analysis to an audience and you have decided that your opening remarks will present your qualified claim and briefly preview the way you assess the relative strengths of your arguments, counterarguments, and rebuttals without explicitly stating them. For example, you might state “Based on my analysis of available information, I have concluded that XX Company likely had stronger financial health at the end of 2013 than YY Company. I will present three supporting arguments for this claim, two of which are very compelling. I will also present two counterarguments. I will thoroughly refute one of these but I can’t provide a reasonable rebuttal for the other, which has sufficient merit for me to qualify my claim as likely rather than probable.” © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson 8 NAVIGATING ACCOUNTING® Part II: Your arguments Provide no more than three arguments in support of your claim in the space provided below, numbered and arranged according to your assessment of their strength (from strongest to weakest). Consistent with The Toulmin Model, each argument should provide evidence, and possibly a warrant and backing for the warrant. You need not identify the components. For example, you needn’t state here is my evidence and here is its warrant. However, both must be present for each argument and while the warrant can be implied, the evidence and backing must be explicit. Keep in mind that the quality of your response depends more on the strength of the arguments you present rather than the number of arguments. For example, one exceptional argument may be all you need. Part III: Your counterarguments and rebuttals Provide no more than three counterarguments to your claim, numbered and arranged according to your assessment of their challenge to the claim (from strongest to weakest). If possible provide rebuttals immediately below each counterargument. © 1991-2014 NavAcc LLC, G. Peter & Carolyn R. Wilson