Dale works in a factory that manufactures pens. The factory has a lot of robotic machinery that is designed to produce all the different parts of a pen in an amazingly fast period of time. Workers on the floor are on hand to stock materials into the machines so that the pens can be assembled and boxed. Dale is a Quality Assurance Supervisor. When a box of pens is delivered to Dale’s station, what might he be looking for?

Rate of return douglas keel, a financial analyst for orange industries, wishes to estimate the rate of return for two similar-risk investments, x and y. douglas's research indicates that the immediate past returns will serve as reasonable estimates of future returns. a year earlier, investment x had a market value of $27 comma 000; and investment y had a market value of $46 comma 000. during the year, investment x generated cash flow of $2 comma 025 and investment y generated cash flow of $ 6 comma 770. the current market values of investments x and y are $28 comma 582 and $46 comma 000, respectively. a. calculate the expected rate of return on investments x and y using the most recent year's data. b. assuming that the two investments are equally risky, which one should douglas recommend? why?