I am a new finance student and this is my first class. It seem to be a little much for me to handle I am hoping that someone out there can point me in the right direction.

My instructions are to: research, analyze, and prepare a report for the CFO on the

actual financial performance of Sprint for the years 2007, 2008, and 2009. In addition to reviewing the traditional financial performance indicators, you are also to review Sprint's past and current stock performance for the same respective periods. Your report is to consist of three parts:

(1) An evaluation of Sprint's financial performance for the period 2007, 2008, & 2009.

(2) An evaluation of Sprint's stock performance for the period 2007, 2008, & 2009.

(3) Finally, a specific recommendation, with supporting rationale, as to whether Sprint's recent trend in financial and stock performance is of sufficient financial strength to warrant entering into a long-term commitment.

To assist you in your task, the CFO has provided the following general guidance. Since it is recognized that the Telecommunications industry is undergoing a major contraction, it is very important to comparatively evaluate Sprint's financial and stock performance trends against its Industry.

You are to consider all necessary and relevant financial performance and stock information, trends, and projections in supporting your recommendation. These factors include, but are not necessarily limited to financial statement analysis, financial ratio trends and industry comparatives, capital spending, stock growth, Beta values, CAPM and Cost of Capital, credit rating service valuations, bond rating valuations, and management and investment reports - when these documents are available.

Here is a link with all of Sprints 2007,2008 & 2009 financial info
http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=S

What's your question?

Have you used library reference material? (There's heaps and gobs of it.)

I have all the research material needed i.e. financial statement, ratios, statistics etc.. I just don't know where to start and organize it.

First make an outline using your assignment directives as a guide. Then write a general statement (or thesis statement) of Sprint's fiscal health or disease for those three years. Use your outline to create and develop sections of (headings for) the paper and specifics (details of fiscal health or disease) under each heading.

You DO know how to create a proper outline, don't you?

Piece of cake!

Thank you Wondergirl for your redirection! And of course I know how to make an outline. I'm a college senior.

What's that got to do with it? Businesses are complaining cause graduates can hardly write a sentence. And I wouldn't be able to put an outline together cause I'd have no idea what I wanted to write about. I sort of have to just sit down at my little computer and start typing and see what comes out the first time. Then fix it, re-organize, etc. I never could follow all that technical junk they wanted me to do in English classes.

Speaking of which... I um, kind of shied away from your post. I cannot believe this is for a first finance class. We never did anything this drastic in my class. Don't know where ArcSine's been - he'd probably have a much better idea on this than me.