Conducting Comparisons to Analyze Financial Reality under the Umbrella of the Kruskal-Wallis Test: Evidence from the Saudi Financial Market

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the financial reality of industrial companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (SSE) to analyze sectoral differences using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test. A comparative design was adopted to investigate the reality of industrial companies across different sectors using financial indicators to identify significant differences. The study focused on industrial companies listed on the SSE during 2024 in the basic materials, capital goods, and long-term commodities sectors. Financial data was collected for fifteen companies distributed across three main sectors, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine whether there were significant statistical differences in three key financial indicators: net profit, net assets, and market value. The results reveal statistically significant differences between the sectors studied, with the capital goods sector recording the highest financial performance, while the long-term commodities sector showed the lowest performance. These results underscore the need to apply non-parametric methods to uncover significant differences that financial methods may fail to detect. The study concluded by integrating statistical and financial strategies to achieve accurate and reliable results, thus providing investors and financial analysts with a better understanding of the decision-making process.