Apple's Business Enivironment

Apple's Business Environment
Researching a company’s business environment provides a tremendous amount of information about a company.   This information informs possible investors, consumers, outside watch groups, and competitors of the strengths and weaknesses of a company.   This essay will review Apple’s business environment along with two of its closest competitors, Google, and Hewlett-Packard.   This review will include the three companies income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow to determine the financial health of each.
Income Statement
An income statement details what a company earns over a specific timeframe.   Apples income statement indicates that it continues to post record setting profits.   “Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 third quarter ended June 25, 2011. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion, or $7.79 per diluted share”. ("Apple Reports Third," 2011, p. 1).   Google’s third quarter revenue is $9.03 billion, which is a 32% increase over the same period last year.   Hewlett-Packard’s third quarter revenue is $31.2 billion, which is up 1% over last year’s revenue.   ("Income Statement," 2011, p. 1).   After reviewing the income statements of each company, the next step will be to review their balance sheets.  
Balance Sheet
          Balance sheets represent a company’s financial condition on a certain date.   As of June 2011, Apple’s balance sheet reflects the company has total current assets of 46,898,000; it has total assets of 106,758,000, total liabilities of 37,415,000, total equity of 69,343,000, and total liabilities and stock equity of 106,758,000.
As of June 2011, Google’s balance sheet reflects the company has total current assets of 46,442,000; it has total assets of 64,861,000, total liabilities of 12,870,000, total equity of 51,991,000, and total liabilities and stock equity of 64,861,000.
As of July 2011, Hewlett-Packard’s...