This study assesses the investment decision of manufacturing firm so as to determine whether it is comparable with commercial banks in Nigeria. Specifically, the study assessed the profitability ratios, dividend coverage ratios and debt-equity ratios of manufacturing firms to determine whether they are significantly different from those of the commercial banks. Ex-post facto and time series research design were adopted. Data were collected from seven years annual reports and accounts of the manufacturing firms and commercial banks to compute the ratios on Profitability; Dividend cover; and long-Term solvency. The data collected were analyzed with financial ratios and t-test statistic was used with aid of SPSS version 20.0 to determine whether there were significant differences in the investment value of the manufacturing companies as against their commercial banks counterpart. Findings show that there is a significant difference between the profitability of manufacturing firms with that of commercial banks in Nigeria; that there is a significant difference between the coverage ratio of manufacturing firms with that of commercial banks in Nigeria; that there is a significant difference between the debt ratio of manufacturing firms with that of commercial banks in Nigeria Based on this, the study recommends that every company should adhere to the demand of subjecting their financial statements to statutory audit as a way of authenticating their contents and all material fact is reflected in order to ensure that investors are not misled.
Investment Value, Financial performance and profitability
