I'm doing a report in which I need the basic balance sheets for Ford and GM. I've got the sheets for both companies from Yahoo and Forbes, and they have different numbers for the same quarter regarding current assets (Yahoo says Ford's current assets are 47,320,000, and Forbes says they're 129,555,000), but the discrepancy isn't there for GM. Who would you recommend to pull this balance sheet info from? I'm supposed to pull from 2 years, but in that they haven't released updated info from December 2011, I was just going to use September 2011 and December 2010 as my two comparison points.

debits=credits. It's late so that's all I got.

I would ask the E Trade baby.

He's watched Wall Street too often and is now strung out on blow.

"Current Assets" ?? As in..."quick assets" ? As in cash and marketable securities or do you mean " Total Assets"..which include longer term assets, like real estate....plants, equipment, etc. ?

Otherwise, pick a source and stick with it. Morningstar, Bloomberg, or even Yahoo. Just be consistent.

I actually needed a lot more than just current assets, which is why this whole thing has been problematic with the companies that I chose. Biggest problem I had was that no one source had all the information I needed. Google finance had some great info on GM, but was missing a lot of info for Ford. I've wound up using YCharts for a lot of it, because they were the best overall mix of what I needed. I've still had to go back to Google a couple of times.

It has been pretty interesting looking over these two companies, especially over the time of GM's bankruptcy. I didn't realize exactly how poorly Ford was doing then either, but they managed to come out ahead. After work today, i've got to write a paper on whether I would buy Ford or GM stock for my own personal investments. I still haven't decided yet either, since both look like they could have decent growth potential. Granted, i'm still new at this, so I could be completely wrong.

Tell them "neither". There are 10000 better companies out there from an investment standpoint.

Tell them you'd rather buy CIM for two years ( the dividends), and LNG, for 5 years, facebook, for 3 hours, DUK for 5 years and depending upon what Iran and Israel do.....Raytheon.

I've got to choose one of these two. That's how these academics roll.

I'm choosing Ford, since it's looking to be a much more stable company (at least, as stable as one can be as an auto manufacturer in this economy), though GM may well have some potential in the future. I'm really looking forward to finishing this project in a couple of hours, so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

OF, I was trying to send you a PM.

-alton

Tell them that's communism. You want to pick your OWN investments, not have anyone dictate to you what THEY want you to pick.

Or you could take the easy way out and say "Ford"...because they didnt take a bailout, and I'm afraid GM will rely upon it in the future.

Get the financials from their web sites..they are sometimes available there. BTW, What you probably saw was "current'....QUARTER on Yahoo.....not YTD.

So you got my message, did ya ?

I'm using the annuals from end of 2010 and 2009. The prof didn't specify (he doesn't do a whole lot of anything, from what I can tell), and being left to my own devices, I chose the easier way. The bankruptcy and subsequent bailout made for some funky numbers on the GM side. I've been making sure to specify that, just in case the professor actually reads all 9 pages of solvency ratios, etc.

How would 2009 financials be beneficial to you after that bailout fiasco? I would think that 2010 and 2011 would be of more use.

2011 annuals aren't available yet from any site that i've seen. I was unhappy with that at first, but the guidelines specify two years. Of course, GM can't go back any further than that stock-wise.

Newest would be more beneficial, but that's apparently not what this guy wants. He's been a pretty poor professor, unfortunately.