With reference to current ratio, in the case of Wal-Mart, 0.94 in for the year ended 2001 to 1.04 in 2003 shows that it has been stable and slightly increasing. The same trend is observed with Target but it has been increasing at a smaller rate probably because an increase current liabilities has been greater for Wal-Mart than for Target.
             · In Wal-Mart's case, inventory turnover has been increasing from one year to another, which means that inventory has been turned over very quickly.
             In spite of the fact that A/R has decreased, it is remarkable how Wal-Mart has low receivables, which compared with Target demonstrates a stronger ability to collect cash from their customers. It could be too, that the particular situation, which Target has its own financing mechanism (Target credit card), which increases its net receivables in bigger proportion with respect to cash.
             · K-mart's Current Ratio shows an irregular trend greatly increasing from 1.94 in 2001 to 12.03 in 2002. The increase of almost six times was due to the fact that current liabilities decreased 83.57% brought on by the negating of contracts due to the bankruptcy filing. For this reason, one might be misled into thinking that K-Mart has a stronger ability to pay current liabilities with current assets.
             · Bloomberg offers no information on K-Mart's A/R ratio. However, its inventory turnover is increasing and in this case it is going to cash rather than paying liabilities. The effect on cash is clearly seen by the significant increase of 68% from 2001 to 2002.
             · Current ratio has been increasing for TARGET during the last three years. This trend is showing their ability to become stronger in paying current obligations. It could be due to the fact that current assets have increased from one year to the next, but current liabilities have increased in a lower proportion. Additionally, inventory turnover has been
             ...