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Fin201: Introduction to Finance 


Group Assignment 
Section 2 
Faculty: Ms. Zaima Ahmed 
 
 
Group Members: 
Tahzeeb Ahmed 1930234 
Wasiul Hoque 1910008 
Mashiat Kabir Muskan  1830901 
Adib Abthahi Zaman  2020717 
 
 
Date of Submission: ​03.01.21 
 
 
Table of Contents 
Abstract 4 
Points to Noted: 4 

Company Overviews 5 
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. 5 
Steel Dynamics 6 
Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. 7 
Wheaton Precious Metal Corp. 8 

Comparative Analysis 9 
Profitability Ratio 9 
1. Profit Margin Comparison 9 
2. Return on assets (ROA) 10 
3. Return on Equity (ROE) 12 
Asset Utilization Ratio 
These ratios provide us with metrics to judge a firm’s ability to utilize its assets.
14 
1. Account Receivables Turnover 14 
2. Inventory Turnover 15 
3. Fixed Asset Turnover 16 
4. Total Asset Turnover 17 
5. Average Collection Period 18 
Liquidity Ratio 
This group of ratios is used to analyze a firm's ability to pay off current debt 
obligations. 19 
1. Current Ratio 20 
2. Quick Ratio 21 
Debt Utilization Ratios: 
This final group of ratios allow us to measure the financial risk and/or 
prudence of a firm’s debt management. 22 
1. Debt to Total Assets: 22 
2. Times Interest Earned 23 

Conclusion 24 
i.) Would we invest in these companies? 24 
ii.) Would we supply raw materials on credit to these companies? 25 
iii.) Would we provide a long-term loan as a banker? 26 

References: 27 
Abstract 
This document is a comparative analysis of 4 basic-material companies which are: 
 
i. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. 
ii. Steel Dynamics 
iii. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. 
iv. Wheaton Precious Metal Corp. 
 
We have presented a basic overview of each of these companies along with 12 of 
their ratio analysis for both the fiscal year of 2019 and 2018. We have conducted a 
secondary research and drawn all of our data from Yahoo Finance. The calculation 
of each ratio analysis was carried out using our learnings from our Fin201 course. 
 
The next section delineates the comparative analysis of 4 of these companies for 
both the fiscal years of 2019 & 2018, using ratio analysis calculation. We have 
attempted to identify the best company based on each ratio for each year and a 
final overall best company for each year based on an all-embracing overview of 
our ratio analysis. 
 
In the final Section we have analysed and have arbitrated conclusions for the 
following questions: 
 
i.) Would we invest in these companies? 
ii.) Would we supply raw materials on credit to these companies? 
iii.) Would we provide a long-term loan as a banker? 

Points to Noted: 
● Wheaton Precious Metal Corp’s inventory value was not available in their 
balance sheet hence an Inventory Turnover ratio was not calculated for this 
specific company 
 
● Credit Sales were not available for any of our assigned companies, hence 
we have used total sales as credit sales to calculate Average Collection 
Period and Account Receivables Turnover 
 
● Lease Payments were not available for any of our assigned companies 
hence Fixed Charge Coverage Figures was excluded from our report.   
Company Overviews 
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.  

 
Headquarters:​ Los Angeles, California, United States 
Stock Symbol:​ NYSE:RS 
 
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co is the largest metals service center company in 
North America. Through a network of more than 300 locations in 39 states and 12 
countries outside of the United States, the Company provides value-added metals 
processing services and distributes a full line of over 100,000 metal products. 
These products include galvanized, hot-rolled and cold-finished steel, stainless 
steel, aluminum, brass, copper, titanium and alloy steel sold to more than 125,000 
customers in a broad range of industries. Some of these metals service centers 
provide processing services for specialty metals only. 
 
  2019  2018 

Profit Margin  6.39%  5.49% 

Return on Assets  8.63%  7.88% 

Return on Equity  13.45%  13.54% 

Receivables Turnover  9.93 Times  9.17 Times 

Inventory Turnover  6.67 Times  6.35 Times 

Fixed Asset Turnover  2.14 Times  2.42 Times 

Total Asset Turnover  1.35 Times  1.43 Times 

Average Collection Period  36.25 Days  39.27 Days 

Current Ratio  4.46   4.7 

Quick Ratio  2.02   2.1 

Debt to Total Assets  0.36  0.42 


Times Interest Earned  6.85 Times  6.44 Times 

 
Steel Dynamics  

 
Headquarters:​ Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States 
Stock Symbol:​ NASDAQ: STLD 
 
Steel Dynamics which is a diversified carbon-steel producer and is one of the 
largest American steel companies. It was founded in 1993 and has an estimated 
annual steelmaking and metals recycling capability, with annual revenues of $8.8 
billion in 2014, over 7,700 employees, and manufacturing facilities primarily 
located throughout the United States. The Company is engaged in the 
manufacture and sale of steel products, processing and sale of recycled ferrous 
and nonferrous metals, and fabrication and sale of steel joists and deck products. 
Its segments include steel operations, metals recycling operations, steel 
fabrication operations and Other Operations. It offers a range of steel products, 
such as sheet products, long products and steel finishing.  
 
 
  2019  2018 

Profit Margin  10.64%  6.41% 

Return on Assets  16.34%  8.11% 

Return on Equity  31.98%  16.47% 

Receivables Turnover  12.39 Times  11.33 Times 

Inventory Turnover  6.19 Times  6.36 Times 

Fixed Asset Turnover  26.01 Times  3.22 Times 

Total Asset Turnover  1.26 Times  1.54 Times 

Average Collection Period  29.05 Days  31.79 Days 

Current Ratio  4.22   3.96 


Quick Ratio  2.54   2.13 

Debt to Total Assets  0.33  0.31 

Times Interest Earned  7.89 Times  13.79 Times 


 

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc.

 
Headquarters:​ Raleigh, North Carolina, United States 
Stock Symbol:​ NYSE: MLM 
 
The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded 
in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta 
Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, 
and electronics. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed 
Martin. Martin Marietta, a member of the S&P 500 Index, is an American‐based 
company and a leading supplier of building materials, including aggregates, 
cement, ready mixed concrete and asphalt. Through a network of operations 
spanning 27 states, Canada and The Bahamas, dedicated Martin Marietta teams 
supply the resources necessary for building the solid foundations on which our 
communities thrive. Martin Marietta’s Magnesia Specialties business provides a 
full range of magnesium oxide, magnesium hydroxide and dolomitic lime 
products 
  2019  2018 

Profit Margin  3.35%  2.22% 

Return on Assets  15.74%  9.88% 

Return on Equity  3.91%  2.39% 

Receivables Turnover  8.27 Times  8.11 Times 

Inventory Turnover  6.19 Times  6.36 Times 

Fixed Asset Turnover  5.44 Times  5.18 Times 

Total Asset Turnover  4.67 Times  4.37 Times 


Average Collection Period  22.97 Days  22.23 Days 

Current Ratio  1.70   1.73 

Quick Ratio  0.88   0.89 

Debt to Total Assets  2.12  0.48 

Times Interest Earned  16.20 Times  10.94 Times 

 
Wheaton Precious Metal Corp. 

 
Headquarters:​ Vancouver, Canada 
Stock Symbol:​ NYSE: WPM 
 
Wheaton is the world’s premier precious metals streaming company with the 
highest-quality portfolio of long-life, low-cost assets. Its business model offers 
investors leverage to commodity prices and exploration upside but with a much 
lower risk profile than a traditional mining company. Wheaton delivers amongst 
the highest cash operating margins in the mining industry, allowing it to pay a 
competitive dividend and continue to grow through accretive acquisitions. As a 
result, Wheaton has consistently outperformed gold and silver, as well as other 
mining investments. Wheaton creates sustainable value through streaming. 
 
  2019  2018 

Profit Margin  10.00%  53.79% 

Return on Assets  1.37%  6.60% 

Return on Equity  1.62%  8.26% 

Receivables Turnover  198.01 Times  596.11 Times 

Inventory Turnover  N/A  N/A 

Fixed Asset Turnover  0.14 Times  0.12 Times 

Total Asset Turnover  0.14 Times  0.12 Times 

Average Collection Period  1.82 Days  0.6 Days 


Current Ratio  2.39   2.76 

Quick Ratio  2.39   2.76 

Debt to Total Assets  0.14  0.20 

Times Interest Earned  2.71 Times  13.36 Times 

Comparative Analysis 
Profitability Ratio 
Allows us to measure effectively the degree to which a firm can generate return on 
sales, total assets and total equity 
 
1. Profit Margin Comparison 

Net profit margin is the most common indicator of a firm’s performance. Net 
profit margin is a ratio that expresses a company’s profits as a percentage of the 
total amount of money it earns from the sale of goods and services. 
 
Wheaton is the winner in the year 2018, which means they have generated the 
most amount of Return Per unit sales. They have a significantly higher profit 
margin in the year 2018 compared to the other 3 firms. For 2019, Wheaton 
Precious wins by yet again. We can notice a significant drop in the profit margin 
for Wheaton from 2018 to 2019, this is an indicator of a colossal deterioration of 
Wheaton’s cost control measures as a firm which will lead to severe concerns for 
its stockholders. Steel Dynamics also realised a decline in its profit margin, albeit 
small in comparison, which might raise concerns for their investors, whereas both 
Reliance and Martin sees a growth from 2018 to 2019 indicating improved cost 
control measures being taken by these two firms. 
 
Company Name  Profit Margin 2019 / %  Profit Margin 2018 / % 

Reliance Steel &  6.39  5.49 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  6.41  10.64 

Martin Marietta  3.36  2.22 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  10  53.79 


Metals Corp. 
 
 
2. Return on assets (ROA) 

Return on assets (ROA) is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to 


its total assets. ROA gives a manager, investor, or an analyst an idea as to how 
efficient a company's management is at using its assets to generate earnings. 
Return on assets is displayed as a percentage. A comparatively high ROA 
indicates that a firm is better at managing its assets and utilizing them to 
generate money for the business.  
 
Steel Dynamics is the Winner for the year 2018 by a significant margin, its ROA is 
almost double in comparison to the other 3 firms. This indicates Steel Dynamics 
were able to outperform its competitors in utilizing its assets to generate profit 
for the firm. 
 
Martin Marietta Materials, Inc is the winner for the year 2019. They have been able 
to generate significantly more earnings from its assets, almost double of its 
competitors’ performance in 2019. Along with a high ROA, Martin shows a 
massive growth in its ROA from 2018 to 2019 therefore it will be safe to assume 
that the firm has taken measures that have improved its management and 
utilization of Assets. Using the Du pont system of Analysis we can attribute this 
increase to either an increase in Profit margin for the firm or an increase in asset 
turnover or both together, and as we see a small increase in Martin’s profit 
margin from 2018 to 2019, most of its increase in ROA can be attributed to an 
increased Asset Turnover. 
 
Reliance also has seen a growth in its ROA however its slight in comparison to 
Martin’s growth. Both Wheaton Precious Corp and Steel Dynamics have a sharp 
dip in their ROA, this will raise consequential concerns among their stockholders 
as this is a key indicator of a decline in the firms’ asset utilization capabilities.  
 
Company Name  Return on Asset 2019 / %  Return on Asset 2018 / % 

Reliance Steel &  8.63  7.88 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  8.11  16.34 

Martin Marietta  15.74  9.88 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  1.37  6.6 


Metals Corp. 
 
3. Return on Equity (ROE) 

 
The Return on Equity ratio essentially measures the rate of return that the owners 
of common stock of a company receive on their shareholdings. Return on equity 
signifies how good the company is in generating returns on the investment it 
received from its shareholder. Also referred to as “return on net assets”, return on 
equity (ROE) is a measurement of how effectively a business uses equity – or the 
money contributed by its stockholders and cumulative retained profits – to 
produce income. As this is a comparative measure a good ROE is judged based 
on whatever the industry standard is. 
 
In the year 2018, Steel Dynamics has been the most successful company in 
generating the highest ROE; almost 3 times the ROE of its closest competitor 
Reliance Steel & Aluminum. The industry average ROE for 2018 was 11.5% 
according to csimarket.com, hence only Reliance Steel and Steel Dynamics were 
able to perform better than the average, while Martin Marietta has been the least 
successful in converting its equity capital to net profit with a meagre 2.39% ROE. 
 
Steel Dynamics also has the highest ROE in the year 2019, however this is a sharp 
decline in comparison to its 2018 figures. Using the Du pont system of analysis 
this can be attributed to either a decrease in ROA (which is verified from the 
previous table of ROA Data) and/or a decrease in Debt-to-Total Assets ratio ~ 
which counterintuitively can be seen in a positive light as it indicates a less 
volatile ROE.  
 
Wheaton also saw a rapid decline in its ROE in the year 2019, which is aligned with 
our previous findings of its decreased ROA in 2019 as well. Reliance Steel saw a 
negligible decline in ROE. Only Martin Marietta was able to see an improvement 
in its ROE from 2018 to 2019 which can be attributed to its increased ROA using 
the Du pont analysis. The industry average ROE for 2019 was roughly about 9%, 
hence its safe to assume Martin Marietta and Wheaton had performed poorly in 
comparison to all its competitors. 
 
Company Name  Return on Equity 2019 /  Return on Equity 2018 / 
%  % 

Reliance Steel &  13.45  13.54 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  16.47  31.98 

Martin Marietta  3.91  2.39 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  1.62  8.26 


Metals Corp. 

Asset Utilization Ratio 


These ratios provide us with metrics to judge a firm’s ability to utilize its assets. 

 
1. Account Receivables Turnover 

 
This ratio gives the measure of how many times a firm collects its average 
account receivables over a period of time. A high receivable turnover ratio 
indicates a company’s efficiency in collecting its receivable payments. 
 
We can notice from the Table that Wheaton Precious’ Receivables Turnover is 
exponentially higher than its competitors and even the industry average, it will be 
safe to consider Wheaton’s case an outlier, which is due to its meagre account 
receivables stated in its balance sheet to be only around thousands of dollars and 
also because this report considers total sales to equal credit sales.  
 
Continuing our comparative analysis excluding the outlier, we can see that Steel 
Dynamics has the highest Receivables Turnover for both the fiscal years this 
quantitatively verifies its collection process to be better than its competitors. All 3 
companies (excluding Wheaton) experienced a slight growth in their account 
receivables ratio indicating improvement in these firms’ collection process of its 
receivables. 
 
 
Company Name  Receivables Turnover  Receivables Turnover 
2019 / Times  2018 / Times 

Reliance Steel &  9.93  9.17 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  12.39  11.33 

Martin Marietta  8.27  8.11 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  198.01  596.11 


Metals Corp.   
2. Inventory Turnover  

This ratio tells us how many times a company sells and replaces its inventory over 
a given period. A high inventory can indicate either a high sales or insufficient 
average inventory. 
 
For both the Fiscal years, all 3 firms have relatively similar Inventory Turnover 
Ratios, with Martin Marietta winning by a narrow margin in both the years.  
 
Both Martin Marietta and Reliance Steel experienced a small growth which 
represents an improvement in these firm’s sales, which is also verified by the 
profitability ratios from 2018 to 2019. 
 
Only Steel Dynamics realized a small decline in its Inventory Turnover, this can 
potentially be attributed to declining inventory management, however this 
shouldn’t raise any significant concerns among its investors. 
 
Company Name  Inventory Turnover 2019 /  Inventory Turnover 2018 / 
Times  Times 

Reliance Steel &  6.67  6.35 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  6.19  6.36 

Martin Marietta  6.86  6.40 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  N/A  N/A 


Metals Corp. 
 
3. Fixed Asset Turnover  

This ratio gives us a measure of how effectively a firm generates profit by utilizing 
its Fixed Assets. A higher ratio indicates efficient use of fixed assets. It is calculated 
by dividing net sales by the net of its property, plant, and equipment, i.e Total 
Fixed Assets. 
 
Martin Marietta has the highest Fixed Asset Turnover for the fiscal Year of 2018, 
which implies that this firm most efficiently used its fixed assets to generate sales. 
Wheaton Precious had a very low Turnover indicating inefficient utilization of its 
Fixed Assets at meager 0.12 times. 
 
For the fiscal year of 2019, Steel Dynamics had the highest turnover, almost five 
times of its closest competitor Martin Marietta, this is also a sharp rise from 2018 
as Steel dynamics increased its turnover by almost 9 folds. This is a solid 
indication of a colossal improvement that took place in the firm’s ability to utilize 
its Fixed Assets to generate revenue. 
 
Both Martin Marietta and Wheaton Precious also had a slight growth in its Fixed 
Asset Turnover, whereas Reliance Steel realized a decline indicating diminished 
utilization of its Fixed Assets. 
 
Company Name  Fixed Asset Turnover  Fixed Asset Turnover 
2019 / Times  2018 / Times 

Reliance Steel &  2.14  2.42 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  26.01  3.22 

Martin Marietta  5.44  5.18 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  0.14  0.12 


Metals Corp. 
 
4. Total Asset Turnover  

 
This ratio gives us a measure of how effectively a firm generates profit by utilizing 
all of its Assets. It is the ratio of total sales or revenue to average assets. A high 
Asset turnover can indicate efficient utilization of assets or potentially sales of 
assets.   
 
Martin Marietta had the highest Total Asset Turnover in both the fiscal years by a 
respectable margin. They even saw a small growth in their Turnover ratio which 
indicates a relatively strong and improving utilization of its Total Assets to 
generate revenue. 
 
Both Reliance Steel and Steel Dynamics realised a small dip in their Total Asset 
Turnover ratio that could be attributed to decreased efficiency and/or potential 
purchase of newer assets. 
 
Wheaton Precious consistently performs poorly when it comes to utilizing its 
Assets to generate sales for the company.  
 
Company Name  Total Asset Turnover 2019  Total Asset Turnover 2018 
/ Times  / Times 

Reliance Steel &  1.35  1.43 


Aluminium Co. 
Steel Dynamics  1.26  1.54 

Martin Marietta  4.67  4.37 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  0.14  0.12 


Metals Corp. 
 
5. Average Collection Period 

 
This metric tells us an average estimate of the number of days it takes a firm to 
collect its accounts receivables. A lower number of days indicates a more efficient 
collection process. 
 
Wheaton Precious Corp can be considered an outlier and hence excluded from 
our analysis due to reasons delineated in Accounts receivables section. 
 
Martin Marietta has the lowest average collection period across both the fiscal 
years, this indicates that the firm has the best collection process in comparison to 
the other 2 firms. However the firm does notice a negligible increase in the 
average collection period from 2018 to 2019.  
 
Both Reliance Steel and Steel Dynamics see a dip in their average collection 
period, which indicates that these firms have improved their upon their collection 
process over the previous fiscal year. 
 
Company Name  Avg Collection Period  Avg Collection Period 
2019 / Days  2018 / Days 
Reliance Steel &  36.25  39.27 
Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  29.05  31.79 

Martin Marietta  22.97  22.23 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  1.82  0.6 


Metals Corp. 
 
 
 

Liquidity Ratio 
This group of ratios is used to analyze a firm's ability to pay off current debt 
obligations. 
 
1. Current Ratio  

 
This ratio helps us determine a firm’s ability to pay its current liabilities which are 
due within one year. A higher ratio of is a good indicator for potential creditors as 
it indicates a firm’s strength to pay off short-term debts. 
 
Reliance Steel has the highest current Ratio with Steel Dynamics coming in at 
second in both the fiscal years of 2018 and 2019. This indicates Reliance Steel has 
the strongest ability to its pay of its current debt and other payables. We notice a 
slight decrease in Reliances’ current ratio which may indicate an decrease in the 
firm’s current assets and/or an increase in the firm's short-term debts.  
 
Martin Marietta has had a significantly lower current ratio among the 4 firms, 
indicating a relatively higher risk of defaulting on its short-term obligations. 
 
Steel Dynamics notices a significant growth from 2018 to 2019, this may indicate 
an increase in firm’s current assets and/or a decrease in the firm’s short-term 
debts. 
 
Company Name  Current Ratio 2019/  Current Ratio 2018/ 
Times  Times 

Reliance Steel &  4.46  4.7 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  4.22  3.96 

Martin Marietta  1.7  1.73 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  2.39  2.76 


Metals Corp. 
 
2. Quick Ratio  

 
Similar to the current ratio, this gives us the measure of the firm’s ability to meet 
its short-term debts with its most liquid assets. A quick ratio represents better 
liquidity of a firm. 
 
Wheaton Precious has the highest Quick Ratio in 2018, indicating that its 
relatively higher liquidity to pay off its short-term debts. 
 
Steel Dynamics narrowly beats out Wheaton Precious in the fiscal year of 2019. 
Steel Dynamics saw a respectable growth indicating that the firm has taken 
measures to improve its liquidity from 2018. 
 
Martin Marietta has had a significantly lower quick ratio among the 4 firms, 
indicating a relatively higher risk of defaulting on its short-term obligations. 
 
Company Name  Quick Ratio 2019/ Times  Quick Ratio 2018/ Times 

Reliance Steel &  2.02  2.1 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  2.54  2.13 

Martin Marietta  0.88  0.89 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  2.39  2.76 


Metals Corp. 
 
 
Debt Utilization Ratios: 
This final group of ratios allow us to measure the financial risk and/or prudence 
of a firm’s debt management.  

1. Debt to Total Assets: 

 
This ratio indicates the fraction of the assets a firm holds that is financed by its 
debt-obligations. A higher ratio poses a greater financial risk. 
 
Wheaton Precious has the lowest Debt to Total Asset Ratio in both the fiscal years 
which represents this firm to have the relatively superior prudent debt 
management policies, as very few of its Assets is financed by debt. 
 
Martin Marietta sees a sharp rise in its ratio from 2018 to 2019, as this is way higher 
than 1, this implies a significant fraction of the company’s assets is being financed 
by debt which is risky for the firm, and should raise consequential concerns for its 
stockholders. 
 
Company Name  Debt to Total Asset Ratio  Debt to Total Asset Ratio 
2019 / Times  2018 / Times 

Reliance Steel &  0.36  0.42 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  0.33  0.31 

Martin Marietta  2.12  0.48 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  0.14  0.20 


Metals Corp. 
 
2. Times Interest Earned  

 
This ratio gives us the number of times a firm can pay its interest expenses with 
its current earning before interest & taxes. A higher ratio assures creditors in the 
ability of the firm to pay its interests. 
 
Steel Dynamics has the highest Times Interest Earned value, narrowly beating out 
Wheat Precious in the fiscal year of 2018. Steel Dynamics saw a sharp decline in its 
value in 2019, this will lower the confidence of creditors in providing 
interest-based debt to the firm, whereas the converse is true for Martin Marietta 
as they saw a sharp rise in 2019 leading them to be the winner for the fiscal year of 
2019. 
 
Company Name  Times Interest Earned  Times Interest Earned 
2019 / Times  2018 / Times 

Reliance Steel &  6.85  6.44 


Aluminium Co. 

Steel Dynamics  7.89  13.79 

Martin Marietta  16.2  10.94 


Materials, Inc. 

Wheaton Precious  2.71  13.36 


Metals Corp. 
 
 

Conclusion 
i.) Would we invest in these companies? 
When investors decide to invest, they primarily focus their analysis at the 
profitability ratio to see whether they get enough return on their investment. 

 
 
We see that Steel Dynamics has performed significantly better in the fiscal year of 
2018 compared to the other companies in 3 in regards to the P ​ rofitability ratios, 
and on average has a consistent ROA, ROE and Profit margin in 2019 compared to 
the other 3 firms with Reliance Steel coming at a close second (only for the year 
2019) which suggests that as an investor I am more likely to get return on income, 
assets and invested capital with Steel Dynamics Inc. 

ii.) Would we supply raw materials on 


credit to these companies? 
Deciding to supply raw materials on credit to a firm primarily depends on its 
ability to meet short-term obligations with its current assets hence we need to 
look at the ​current ratio​.  
If the current ratio is higher then it means the firm has more current assets than 
current liability hence it can meet its short term debts. 

 
I would supply raw materials to Reliance steel since it has a consistently a higher 
current ratio compared to the other 3 firms in both the fiscal years. 
 
We also need to look at the ​inventory turnover ratio 
 

I would supply raw materials to Martin Marietta material  


Since their inventory turnover ratio is highest amongst others for both years 
Higher inventory turnover means sales of the company is already high hence they 
are clearing out their inventory faster.  
 
Also by looking at the ​Average collection period,​ means how much time it takes 
for a customer to pay us money. The sooner they pay us, the sooner we can pay 
the supplier. 
 
Martin Marietta also wins here as it takes the least amount of time to get 
payments from it's customers hence they are more likely to pay the money to the 
supplier.  
 
iii.) Would we provide a long-term loan 
as a banker? 
 

We need to look at ​Total debt to total asset ratio 


I would provide loan to wheaton precious metals, just based on this ratio  
Since they have the least debt to asset ratio in both the fiscal years, which means 
they have financed few of their assets using its debt indicating prudent debt 
management policies.

We will also need to look at ​Times interest earned​, 


As a banker we'll also need to see whether the firm has enough ​ earning before 

interest & taxes to cover its interest expenses​. Martin Marrieta has had a 
consistent Times interest earned, and in 2019 their Times interest earned has 
increased as well. 
 

Considering both these ratios, to conclude a final winner we would choose Steel 
Dynamics as it has both a relatively low debt-to-total asset ratio and a high Times 
interest earned value for both the fiscal years. This would provide a lendor 
sufficient confidence to provide to Debt to Steel Dynamics.

 
References: 
1. https://csimarket.com/Industry/industry_ManagementEffectiveness
.php?s=100

2. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WPM/financials?p=WPM

3. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/RS/financials?p=RS

4. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/STLD/financials?p=STLD

5. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MLM/financials?p=MLM 

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