Q&A Hero

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The NPV profile graph for a normal project will generally have a positive (upward) slope as the life of the project increases. b. An NPV profile graph is designed to give decision makers an idea about how a project's risk varies with its life. c. An NPV profile graph is designed to give decision makers an idea about how a project's contribution to the firm's value varies with the cost of capital. d. We cannot draw a project's NPV profile unless we know the appropriate cost of capital for use in evaluating the project's NPV. e. An NPV profile graph shows how a project's payback varies as the cost of capital changes.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. One defect of the IRR method is that it does not take account of the time value of money. b. One defect of the IRR method is that it does not take account of the cost of capital. c. One defect of the IRR method is that it values a dollar received today the same as a dollar that will not be received until sometime in the future. d. One defect of the IRR method is that it assumes that the cash flows to be received from a project can be reinvested at the IRR itself, and that assumption is often not valid. e. One defect of the IRR method is that it does not take account of cash flows over a project's full life.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. Projects with "normal" cash flows can have two or more real IRRs. b. Projects with "normal" cash flows must have two changes in the sign of the cash flows, e.g., from negative to positive to negative. If there are more than two sign changes, then the cash flow stream is "nonnormal." c. The "multiple IRR problem" can arise if a project's cash flows are "normal." d. Projects with "nonnormal" cash flows are almost never encountered in the real world. e. Projects with "normal" cash flows can have only one real IRR.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. If a project has "normal" cash flows, then its MIRR must be positive. b. If a project has "normal" cash flows, then it will have exactly two real IRRs. c. The definition of "normal" cash flows is that the cash flow stream has one or more negative cash flows followed by a stream of positive cash flows and then one negative cash flow at the end of the project's life. d. If a project has "normal" cash flows, then it can have only one real IRR, whereas a project with "nonnormal" cash flows might have more than one real IRR. e. If a project has "normal" cash flows, then its IRR must be positive.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume that the project being considered has normal cash flows, with one outflow followed by a series of inflows. a. A project's regular IRR is found by compounding the cash inflows at the cost of capital to find the present value (PV), then discounting the TV to find the IRR. b. If a project's IRR is smaller than the cost of capital, then its NPV will be positive. c. A project's IRR is the discount rate that causes the PV of the inflows to equal the project's cost. d. If a project's IRR is positive, then its NPV must also be positive. e. A project's regular IRR is found by compounding the initial cost at the cost of capital to find the terminal value (TV), then discounting the TV at the cost of capital.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume that the project being considered has normal cash flows, with one outflow followed by a series of inflows. a. A project's regular IRR is found by discounting the cash inflows at the cost of capital to find the present value (PV), then compounding this PV to find the IRR. b. If a project's IRR is greater than the WACC, then its NPV must be negative. c. To find a project's IRR, we must solve for the discount rate that causes the PV of the inflows to equal the PV of the project's costs. d. To find a project's IRR, we must find a discount rate that is equal to the cost of capital. e. A project's regular IRR is found by compounding the cash inflows at the cost of capital to find the terminal value (TV), then discounting this TV at the cost of capital.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. One defect of the IRR method versus the NPV is that the IRR does not take account of the time value of money. b. One defect of the IRR method versus the NPV is that the IRR does not take account of the cost of capital. c. One defect of the IRR method versus the NPV is that the IRR values a dollar received today the same as a dollar that will not be received until sometime in the future. d. One defect of the IRR method versus the NPV is that the IRR does not take proper account of differences in the sizes of projects. e. One defect of the IRR method versus the NPV is that the IRR does not take account of cash flows over a project's full life.

Q: If the IRR of normal Project X is greater than the IRR of mutually exclusive (and also normal) Project Y, we can conclude that the firm should always select X rather than Y if X has NPV > 0. a. True b. False

Q: Normal Projects S and L have the same NPV when the discount rate is zero. However, Project S's cash flows come in faster than those of L. Therefore, we know that at any discount rate greater than zero, L will have the higher NPV. a. True b. False

Q: The IRR of normal Project X is greater than the IRR of normal Project Y, and both IRRs are greater than zero. Also, the NPV of X is greater than the NPV of Y at the cost of capital. If the two projects are mutually exclusive, Project X should definitely be selected, and the investment made, provided we have confidence in the data. Put another way, it is impossible to draw NPV profiles that would suggest not accepting Project X. a. True b. False

Q: An increase in the firm's cost of capital will decrease projects' NPVs, which could change the accept/reject decision for any potential project. However, such a change would have no impact on projects' IRRs. Therefore, the accept/reject decision under the IRR method is independent of the cost of capital. a. True b. False

Q: Project S has a pattern of high cash flows in its early life, while Project L has a longer life, with large cash flows late in its life. Neither has negative cash flows after Year 0, and at the current cost of capital, the two projects have identical NPVs. Now suppose interest rates and money costs decline. Other things held constant, this change will cause L to become preferred to S. a. True b. False

Q: The NPV method's assumption that cash inflows are reinvested at the cost of capital is generally more reasonable than the IRR's assumption that cash flows are reinvested at the IRR. This is an important reason why the NPV method is generally preferred over the IRR method. a. True b. False

Q: The IRR method is based on the assumption that projects' cash flows are reinvested at the project's risk-adjusted cost of capital. a. True b. False

Q: The NPV method is based on the assumption that projects' cash flows are reinvested at the project's risk-adjusted cost of capital. a. True b. False

Q: The phenomenon called "multiple internal rates of return" arises when two or more mutually exclusive projects that have different lives are compared to one another. a. True b. False

Q: Under certain conditions, a project may have more than one IRR. One such condition is when, in addition to the initial investment at time = 0, a negative cash flow (or cost) occurs at the end of the project's life. a. True b. False

Q: A project's IRR is independent of the firm's cost of capital. In other words, a project's IRR doesn't change with a change in the firm's cost of capital. a. True b. False

Q: Other things held constant, an increase in the cost of capital will result in a decrease in a project's IRR. a. True b. False

Q: The internal rate of return is that discount rate that equates the present value of the cash outflows (or costs) with the present value of the cash inflows. a. True b. False

Q: Corner Jewelers, Inc. recently analyzed the project whose cash flows are shown below. However, before the company decided to accept or reject the project, the Federal Reserve changed interest rates and therefore the firm's cost of capital (r). The Fed's action did not affect the forecasted cash flows. By how much did the change in the r affect the project's forecasted NPV? Note that a project's expected NPV can be negative, in which case it should be rejected.Old r: 8.00% New r: 11.25% Year 0 1 2 3Cash flows -$1,000 $410 $410 $410a. -$59.03b. -$56.08c. -$53.27d. -$50.61e. -$48.08

Q: Last month, Standard Systems analyzed the project whose cash flows are shown below. However, before the decision to accept or reject the project took place, the Federal Reserve changed interest rates and therefore the firm's cost of capital (r). The Fed's action did not affect the forecasted cash flows. By how much did the change in the r affect the project's forecasted NPV? Note that a project's expected NPV can be negative, in which case it should be rejected.Old r: 10.00% New r: 11.25% Year 0 1 2 3Cash flows -$1,000 $410 $410 $410a. -$18.89b. -$19.88c. -$20.93d. -$22.03e. -$23.13

Q: Dickson Co. is considering a project that has the following cash flow and cost of capital (r) data. What is the project's NPV? Note that a project's expected NPV can be negative, in which case it will be rejected.r: 12.00% Year 0 1 2 3 4 5Cash flows -$1,100 $400 $390 $380 $370 $360a. $250.15b. $277.94c. $305.73d. $336.31e. $369.94

Q: Yoga Center Inc. is considering a project that has the following cash flow and cost of capital (r) data. What is the project's NPV? Note that a project's expected NPV can be negative, in which case it will be rejected.r: 14.00% Year 0 1 2 3 4Cash flows -$1,200 $400 $425 $450 $475a. $41.25b. $45.84c. $50.93d. $56.59e. $62.88

Q: Patterson Co. is considering a project that has the following cash flow and cost of capital (r) data. What is the project's NPV? Note that a project's expected NPV can be negative, in which case it will be rejected.r: 10.00% Year 0 1 2 3Cash flows -$950 $500 $400 $300a. $54.62b. $57.49c. $60.52d. $63.54e. $66.72

Q: Reed Enterprises is considering a project that has the following cash flow and cost of capital (r) data. What is the project's NPV? Note that a project's expected NPV can be negative, in which case it will be rejected.r: 10.00% Year 0 1 2 3Cash flows -$1,050 $450 $460 $470a. $92.37b. $96.99c. $101.84d. $106.93e. $112.28

Q: Scott Enterprises is considering a project that has the following cash flow and cost of capital (r) data. What is the project's NPV? Note that if a project's expected NPV is negative, it should be rejected.r: 11.00% Year 0 1 2 3 4Cash flows -$1,000 $350 $350 $350 $350a. $77.49b. $81.56c. $85.86d. $90.15e. $94.66

Q: Ellmann Systems is considering a project that has the following cash flow and cost of capital (r) data. What is the project's NPV? Note that if a project's expected NPV is negative, it should be rejected.r: 9.00% Year 0 1 2 3Cash flows -$1,000 $500 $500 $500a. $265.65b. $278.93c. $292.88d. $307.52e. $322.90

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume that the project being considered has normal cash flows, with one outflow followed by a series of inflows. a. The higher the cost of capital used to calculate the NPV, the lower the calculated NPV will be. b. If a project's NPV is greater than zero, then its IRR must be less than the cost of capital. c. If a project's NPV is greater than zero, then its IRR must be less than zero. d. The NPVs of relatively risky projects should be found using relatively low costs of capital. e. A project's NPV is generally found by compounding the cash inflows at the cost of capital to find the terminal value (TV), then discounting the TV at the IRR to find its PV.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume that the project being considered has normal cash flows, with one outflow followed by a series of inflows. a. The lower the cost of capital used to calculate a project's NPV, the lower the calculated NPV will be. b. If a project's NPV is less than zero, then its IRR must be less than the cost of capital. c. If a project's NPV is greater than zero, then its IRR must be less than zero. d. The NPV of a relatively low-risk project should be found using a relatively high cost of capital. e. A project's NPV is found by compounding the cash inflows at the IRR to find the terminal value (TV), then discounting the TV at the cost of capital.

Q: When considering two mutually exclusive projects, the firm should always select the project whose internal rate of return is the highest, provided the projects have the same initial cost. This statement is true regardless of whether the projects can be repeated or not.a. Trueb. False

Q: Conflicts between two mutually exclusive projects occasionally occur, where the NPV method ranks one project higher but the IRR method ranks the other one first. In theory, such conflicts should be resolved in favor of the project with the higher positive IRR. a. True b. False

Q: Conflicts between two mutually exclusive projects occasionally occur, where the NPV method ranks one project higher but the IRR method ranks the other one first. In theory, such conflicts should be resolved in favor of the project with the higher positive NPV. a. True b. False

Q: A basic rule in capital budgeting is that if a project's NPV exceeds its IRR, then the project should be accepted. a. True b. False

Q: Assuming that their NPVs based on the firm's cost of capital are equal, the NPV of a project whose cash flows accrue relatively rapidly will be more sensitive to changes in the discount rate than the NPV of a project whose cash flows come in later in its life. a. True b. False

Q: Because "present value" refers to the value of cash flows that occur at different points in time, a series of present values of cash flows should not be summed to determine the value of a capital budgeting project. a. True b. False

Q: A firm should never accept a project if its acceptance would lead to an increase in the firm's cost of capital (its WACC). a. True b. False

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume that the firm is a publicly-owned corporation and is seeking to maximize shareholder wealth. a. If a firm's managers want to maximize the value of their firm's stock, they should, in theory, concentrate on project risk as measured by the standard deviation of the project's expected future cash flows. b. If a firm evaluates all projects using the same cost of capital, and the CAPM is used to help determine that cost, then its risk as measured by beta will probably decline over time. c. Projects with above-average risk typically have higher than average expected returns. Therefore, to maximize a firm's intrinsic value, its managers should favor high-beta projects over those with lower betas. d. Project A has a standard deviation of expected returns of 20%, while Project B's standard deviation is only 10%. A's returns are negatively correlated with both the firm's other assets and the returns on most stocks in the economy, while B's returns are positively correlated. Therefore, Project A is less risky to a firm and should be evaluated with a lower cost of capital. e. If a firm has a beta that is less than 1.0, say 0.9, this would suggest that the expected returns on its assets are negatively correlated with the returns on most other firms' assets.

Q: Careco Company and Audaco Inc are identical in size and capital structure. However, the riskiness of their assets and cash flows are somewhat different, resulting in Careco having a WACC of 10% and Audaco a WACC of 12%. Careco is considering Project X, which has an IRR of 10.5% and is of the same risk as a typical Careco project. Audaco is considering Project Y, which has an IRR of 11.5% and is of the same risk as a typical Audaco project. Now assume that the two companies merge and form a new company, Careco/Audaco Inc. Moreover, the new company's market risk is an average of the pre-merger companies' market risks, and the merger has no impact on either the cash flows or the risks of Projects X and Y. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. If evaluated using the correct post-merger WACC, Project X would have a negative NPV. b. After the merger, Careco/Audaco would have a corporate WACC of 11%. Therefore, it should reject Project X but accept Project Y. c. Careco/Audaco's WACC, as a result of the merger, would be 10%. d. After the merger, Careco/Audaco should select Project Y but reject Project X. If the firm does this, its corporate WACC will fall to 10.5%. e. If the firm evaluates these projects and all other projects at the new overall corporate WACC, it will probably become riskier over time.

Q: The Tierney Group has two divisions of equal size: an office furniture manufacturing division and a data processing division. Its CFO believes that stand-alone data processor companies typically have a WACC of 9%, while stand-alone furniture manufacturers typically have a 13% WACC. She also believes that the data processing and manufacturing divisions have the same risk as their typical peers. Consequently, she estimates that the composite, or corporate, WACC is 11%. A consultant has suggested using a 9% hurdle rate for the data processing division and a 13% hurdle rate for the manufacturing division. However, the CFO disagrees, and she has assigned an 11% WACC to all projects in both divisions. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The decision not to adjust for risk means, in effect, that it is favoring the data processing division. Therefore, that division is likely to become a larger part of the consolidated company over time. b. The decision not to adjust for risk means that the company will accept too many projects in the manufacturing division and too few in the data processing division. This will lead to a reduction in the firm's intrinsic value over time. c. The decision not to risk-adjust means that the company will accept too many projects in the data processing business and too few projects in the manufacturing business. This will lead to a reduction in its intrinsic value over time. d. The decision not to risk-adjust means that the company will accept too many projects in the manufacturing business and too few projects in the data processing business. This may affect the firm's capital structure but it will not affect its intrinsic value. e. While the decision to use just one WACC will result in its accepting more projects in the manufacturing division and fewer projects in its data processing division than if it followed the consultant's recommendation, this should not affect the firm's intrinsic value.

Q: Suppose Acme Industries correctly estimates its WACC at a given point in time and then uses that same cost of capital to evaluate all projects for the next 10 years, then the firm will most likely a. become less risky over time, and this will maximize its intrinsic value. b. accept too many low-risk projects and too few high-risk projects. c. become more risky and also have an increasing WACC. Its intrinsic value will not be maximized. d. continue as before, because there is no reason to expect its risk position or value to change over time as a result of its use of a single cost of capital. e. become riskier over time, but its intrinsic value will be maximized.

Q: The Anderson Company has equal amounts of low-risk, average-risk, and high-risk projects. The firm's overall WACC is 12%. The CFO believes that this is the correct WACC for the company's average-risk projects, but that a lower rate should be used for lower-risk projects and a higher rate for higher-risk projects. The CEO disagrees, on the grounds that even though projects have different risks, the WACC used to evaluate each project should be the same because the company obtains capital for all projects from the same sources. If the CEO's position is accepted, what is likely to happen over time? a. The company will take on too many low-risk projects and reject too many high-risk projects. b. Things will generally even out over time, and, therefore, the firm's risk should remain constant over time. c. The company's overall WACC should decrease over time because its stock price should be increasing. d. The CEO's recommendation would maximize the firm's intrinsic value. e. The company will take on too many high-risk projects and reject too many low-risk projects.

Q: Weatherall Enterprises has no debt or preferred stock⎯it is an all-equity firm⎯and has a beta of 2.0. The chief financial officer is evaluating a project with an expected return of 14%, before any risk adjustment. The risk-free rate is 5%, and the market risk premium is 4%. The project being evaluated is riskier than an average project, in terms of both its beta risk and its total risk. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The project should definitely be rejected because its expected return (before risk adjustment) is less than its required return. b. Riskier-than-average projects should have their expected returns increased to reflect their higher risk. Clearly, this would make the project acceptable regardless of the amount of the adjustment. c. The accept/reject decision depends on the firm's risk-adjustment policy. If Weatherall's policy is to increase the required return on a riskier-than-average project to 3% over rS, then it should reject the project. d. Capital budgeting projects should be evaluated solely on the basis of their total risk. Thus, insufficient information has been provided to make the accept/reject decision. e. The project should definitely be accepted because its expected return (before any risk adjustments) is greater than its required return.

Q: Taylor Inc. estimates that its average-risk projects have a WACC of 10%, its below-average risk projects have a WACC of 8%, and its above-average risk projects have a WACC of 12%. Which of the following projects (A, B, and C) should the company accept? a. Project C, which is of above-average risk and has a return of 11%. b. Project A, which is of average risk and has a return of 9%. c. None of the projects should be accepted. d. All of the projects should be accepted. e. Project B, which is of below-average risk and has a return of 8.5%.

Q: Bloom and Co. has no debt or preferred stock⎯it uses only equity capital, and has two equally-sized divisions. Division X's cost of capital is 10.0%, Division Y's cost is 14.0%, and the corporate (composite) WACC is 12.0%. All of Division X's projects are equally risky, as are all of Division Y's projects. However, the projects of Division X are less risky than those of Division Y. Which of the following projects should the firm accept? a. A Division Y project with a 12% return. b. A Division X project with an 11% return. c. A Division X project with a 9% return. d. A Division Y project with an 11% return. e. A Division Y project with a 13% return.

Q: Burnham Brothers Inc. has no retained earnings since it has always paid out all of its earnings as dividends. This same situation is expected to persist in the future. The company uses the CAPM to calculate its cost of equity, and its target capital structure consists of common stock, preferred stock, and debt. Which of the following events would REDUCE its WACC? a. The flotation costs associated with issuing new common stock increase. b. The company's beta increases. c. Expected inflation increases. d. The flotation costs associated with issuing preferred stock increase. e. The market risk premium declines.

Q: With its current financial policies, Flagstaff Inc. will have to issue new common stock to fund its capital budget. Since new stock has a higher cost than reinvested earnings, Flagstaff would like to avoid issuing new stock. Which of the following actions would REDUCE its need to issue new common stock? a. Increase the percentage of debt in the target capital structure. b. Increase the proposed capital budget. c. Reduce the amount of short-term bank debt in order to increase the current ratio. d. Reduce the percentage of debt in the target capital structure. e. Increase the dividend payout ratio for the upcoming year.

Q: Firms raise capital at the total corporate level by retaining earnings and by obtaining funds in the capital markets. They then provide funds to their different divisions for investment in capital projects. The divisions may vary in risk, and the projects within the divisions may also vary in risk. Therefore, it is conceptually correct to use different risk-adjusted costs of capital for different capital budgeting projects. a. True b. False

Q: Suppose the debt ratio (D/TA) is 50%, the interest rate on new debt is 8%, the current cost of equity is 16%, and the tax rate is 40%. An increase in the debt ratio to 60% would decrease the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). a. True b. False

Q: If a firm is privately owned, and its stock is not traded in public markets, then we cannot measure its beta for use in the CAPM model, we cannot observe its stock price for use in the dividend growth model, and we don't know what the risk premium is for use in the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium method. All this makes it especially difficult to estimate the cost of equity for a private company. a. True b. False

Q: As the winner of a contest, you are now CFO for the day for Maguire Inc. and your day's job involves raising capital for expansion. Maguire's common stock currently sells for $45.00 per share, the company expects to earn $2.75 per share during the current year, its expected payout ratio is 70%, and its expected constant growth rate is 6.00%. New stock can be sold to the public at the current price, but a flotation cost of 8% would be incurred. By how much would the cost of new stock exceed the cost of common from reinvested earnings?a. 0.09%b. 0.19%c. 0.37%d. 0.56%e. 0.84%

Q: You were recently hired by Garrett Design, Inc. to estimate its cost of common equity. You obtained the following data: D1 = $1.75; P0 = $42.50; gL = 7.00% (constant); and F = 5.00%. What is the cost of equity raised by selling new common stock?a. 10.77%b. 11.33%c. 11.90%d. 12.50%e. 13.12%

Q: You are a finance intern at Chambers and Sons and they have asked you to help estimate the company's cost of common equity. You obtained the following data: D1 = $1.25; P0 = $27.50; gL = 5.00% (constant); and F = 6.00%. What is the cost of equity raised by selling new common stock?a. 9.06%b. 9.44%c. 9.84%d. 10.23%e. 10.64%

Q: Trahern Baking Co. common stock sells for $32.50 per share. It expects to earn $3.50 per share during the current year, its expected dividend payout ratio is 65%, and its expected constant dividend growth rate is 6.0%. New stock can be sold to the public at the current price, but a flotation cost of 5% would be incurred. What would be the cost of equity from new common stock?a. 12.70%b. 13.37%c. 14.04%d. 14.74%e. 15.48%

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. All else equal, an increase in a company's stock price will increase its marginal cost of reinvested earnings (not newly issued stock), rs. b. All else equal, an increase in a company's stock price will increase its marginal cost of new common equity, re. c. Since the money is readily available, the after-tax cost of reinvested earnings (not newly issued stock) is usually much lower than the after-tax cost of debt. d. If a company's tax rate increases but the YTM on its noncallable bonds remains the same, the after-tax cost of its debt will fall. e. When calculating the cost of preferred stock, a company needs to adjust for taxes, because preferred stock dividends are deductible by the paying corporation.

Q: The text identifies three methods for estimating the cost of common stock from reinvested earnings (not newly issued stock): the CAPM method, the dividend growth method, and the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium method. Since we cannot be sure that the estimate obtained with any of these methods is correct, it is often appropriate to use all three methods, then consider all three estimates, and end up using a judgmental estimate when calculating the WACC. a. True b. False

Q: The text identifies three methods for estimating the cost of common stock from reinvested earnings (not newly issued stock): the CAPM method, the dividend growth method, and the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium method. However, only the CAPM method always provides an accurate and reliable estimate. a. True b. False

Q: If the expected dividend growth rate is zero, then the cost of external equity capital raised by issuing new common stock (re) is equal to the cost of equity capital from retaining earnings (rs) divided by one minus the percentage flotation cost required to sell the new stock, (1 - F). If the expected growth rate is not zero, then the cost of external equity must be found using a different formula.a. Trueb. False

Q: The cost of external equity capital raised by issuing new common stock (re) is defined as follows, in words: "The cost of external equity equals the cost of equity capital from retaining earnings (rs), divided by one minus the percentage flotation cost required to sell the new stock, (1 - F)."a. Trueb. False

Q: The higher the firm's flotation cost for new common equity, the more likely the firm is to use preferred stock, which has no flotation cost, and reinvested earnings, whose cost is the average return on the assets that are acquired. a. True b. False

Q: Collins GroupThe Collins Group, a leading producer of custom automobile accessories, has hired you to estimate the firm's weighted average cost of capital. The balance sheet and some other information are provided below.Assets Current assets $ 38,000,000Net plant, property, and equipment 101,000,000Total assets $139,000,000 Liabilities and Equity Accounts payable $ 10,000,000Accruals 9,000,000Current liabilities $ 19,000,000Long-term debt (40,000 bonds, $1,000 par value) 40,000,000Total liabilities $ 59,000,000Common stock (10,000,000 shares) 30,000,000Retained earnings 50,000,000Total shareholders' equity 80,000,000Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $139,000,000The stock is currently selling for $15.25 per share, and its noncallable $1,000 par value, 20-year, 7.25% bonds with semiannual payments are selling for $875.00. The beta is 1.25, the yield on a 6-month Treasury bill is 3.50%, and the yield on a 20-year Treasury bond is 5.50%. The required return on the stock market is 11.50%, but the market has had an average annual return of 14.50% during the past 5 years. The firm's tax rate is 40%.Refer to the data for the Collins Group. What is the best estimate of the firm's WACC?a. 10.85%b. 11.19%c. 11.53%d. 11.88%e. 12.24%

Q: Collins GroupThe Collins Group, a leading producer of custom automobile accessories, has hired you to estimate the firm's weighted average cost of capital. The balance sheet and some other information are provided below.Assets Current assets $ 38,000,000Net plant, property, and equipment 101,000,000Total assets $139,000,000 Liabilities and Equity Accounts payable $ 10,000,000Accruals 9,000,000Current liabilities $ 19,000,000Long-term debt (40,000 bonds, $1,000 par value) 40,000,000Total liabilities $ 59,000,000Common stock (10,000,000 shares) 30,000,000Retained earnings 50,000,000Total shareholders' equity 80,000,000Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $139,000,000The stock is currently selling for $15.25 per share, and its noncallable $1,000 par value, 20-year, 7.25% bonds with semiannual payments are selling for $875.00. The beta is 1.25, the yield on a 6-month Treasury bill is 3.50%, and the yield on a 20-year Treasury bond is 5.50%. The required return on the stock market is 11.50%, but the market has had an average annual return of 14.50% during the past 5 years. The firm's tax rate is 40%.Refer to the data for the Collins Group. Which of the following is the best estimate for the weight of debt for use in calculating the firm's WACC?a. 18.67%b. 19.60%c. 20.58%d. 21.61%e. 22.69%

Q: You have been hired by the CFO of Lugones Industries to help estimate its cost of common equity. You have obtained the following data: (1) rd = yield on the firm's bonds = 7.00% and the risk premium over its own debt cost = 4.00%. (2) rRF = 5.00%, RPM = 6.00%, and b = 1.25. (3) D1 = $1.20, P0 = $35.00, and gL = 8.00% (constant). You were asked to estimate the cost of common based on the three most commonly used methods and then to indicate the difference between the highest and lowest of these estimates. What is that difference?a. 1.13%b. 1.50%c. 1.88%d. 2.34%e. 2.58%

Q: Assume that you are an intern with the Brayton Company, and you have collected the following data: The yield on the company's outstanding bonds is 7.75%; its tax rate is 40%; the next expected dividend is $0.65 a share; the dividend is expected to grow at a constant rate of 6.00% a year; the price of the stock is $15.00 per share; the flotation cost for selling new shares is F = 10%; and the target capital structure is 45% debt and 55% common equity. What is the firm's WACC, assuming it must issue new stock to finance its capital budget?a. 6.89%b. 7.26%c. 7.64%d. 8.04%e. 8.44%

Q: To estimate the company's WACC, Marshall Inc. recently hired you as a consultant. You have obtained the following information. (1) The firm's noncallable bonds mature in 20 years, have an 8.00% annual coupon, a par value of $1,000, and a market price of $1,050.00. (2) The company's tax rate is 40%. (3) The risk-free rate is 4.50%, the market risk premium is 5.50%, and the stock's beta is 1.20. (4) The target capital structure consists of 35% debt and the balance is common equity. The firm uses the CAPM to estimate the cost of common stock, and it does not expect to issue any new shares. What is its WACC?a. 7.16%b. 7.54%c. 7.93%d. 8.35%e. 8.79%

Q: Granby Foods' (GF) balance sheet shows a total of $25 million long-term debt with a coupon rate of 8.50%. The yield to maturity on this debt is 8.00%, and the debt has a total current market value of $27 million. The company has 10 million shares of stock, and the stock has a book value per share of $5.00. The current stock price is $20.00 per share, and stockholders' required rate of return, rs, is 12.25%. The company recently decided that its target capital structure should have 35% debt, with the balance being common equity. The tax rate is 40%. Calculate WACCs based on book, market, and target capital structures. What is the sum of these three WACCs?a. 28.36%b. 29.54%c. 30.77%d. 32.00%e. 33.28%

Q: The president and CFO of Spellman Transportation are having a disagreement about whether to use market value or book value weights in calculating the WACC. Spellman's balance sheet shows a total of noncallable $45 million long-term debt with a coupon rate of 7.00% and a yield to maturity of 6.00%. This debt currently has a market value of $50 million. The company has 10 million shares of common stock, and the book value of the common equity (common stock plus retained earnings) is $65 million. The current stock price is $22.50 per share; stockholders' required return, rs, is 14.00%; and the firm's tax rate is 40%. The CFO thinks the WACC should be based on market value weights, but the president thinks book weights are more appropriate. What is the difference between these two WACCs?a. 1.55%b. 1.72%c. 1.91%d. 2.13%e. 2.36%

Q: Avery Corporation's target capital structure is 35% debt, 10% preferred, and 55% common equity. The interest rate on new debt is 6.50%, the yield on the preferred is 6.00%, the cost of common from reinvested earnings is 11.25%, and the tax rate is 40%. The firm will not be issuing any new common stock. What is Avery's WACC?a. 8.15%b. 8.48%c. 8.82%d. 9.17%e. 9.54%

Q: Quinlan Enterprises stock trades for $52.50 per share. It is expected to pay a $2.50 dividend at year end (D1 = $2.50), and the dividend is expected to grow at a constant rate of 5.50% a year. The before-tax cost of debt is 7.50%, and the tax rate is 40%. The target capital structure consists of 45% debt and 55% common equity. What is the company's WACC if all the equity used is from reinvested earnings?a. 7.07%b. 7.36%c. 7.67%d. 7.98%e. 8.29%

Q: Bartlett Company's target capital structure is 40% debt, 15% preferred, and 45% common equity. The after-tax cost of debt is 6.00%, the cost of preferred is 7.50%, and the cost of common using reinvested earnings is 12.75%. The firm will not be issuing any new stock. You were hired as a consultant to help determine their cost of capital. What is its WACC?a. 8.98%b. 9.26%c. 9.54%d. 9.83%e. 10.12%

Q: Your consultant firm has been hired by Eco Brothers Inc. to help them estimate the cost of common equity. The yield on the firm's bonds is 8.75%, and your firm's economists believe that the cost of common can be estimated using a risk premium of 3.85% over a firm's own cost of debt. What is an estimate of the firm's cost of common from reinvested earnings?a. 12.60%b. 13.10%c. 13.63%d. 14.17%e. 14.74%

Q: Firm J's earnings and stock price tend to move up and down with other firms in the S&P 500, while Firm F's earnings and stock price move counter cyclically with J and other S&P companies. Both J and F estimate their costs of equity using the CAPM, they have identical market values, their standard deviations of returns are identical, and they both finance only with common equity. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. J and F should have identical WACCs because their risks as measured by the standard deviation of returns are identical. b. If J and F merge, then the merged firm MW should have a WACC that is a simple average of J's and F's WACCs. c. Without additional information, it is impossible to predict what the merged firm's WACC would be if J and F merged. d. Since J and F move counter cyclically to one another, if they merged, the merged firm's WACC would be less than the simple average of the two firms' WACCs. e. J should have the lower WACC because it is like most other companies, and investors like that fact.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. Since its stockholders are not directly responsible for paying a corporation's income taxes, corporations should focus on before-tax cash flows when calculating the WACC. b. An increase in a firm's tax rate will increase the component cost of debt, provided the YTM on the firm's bonds is not affected by the change in the tax rate. c. When the WACC is calculated, it should reflect the costs of new common stock, reinvested earnings, preferred stock, long-term debt, short-term bank loans if the firm normally finances with bank debt, and accounts payable if the firm normally has accounts payable on its balance sheet. d. If a firm has been suffering accounting losses that are expected to continue into the foreseeable future, and therefore its tax rate is zero, then it is possible for the after-tax cost of preferred stock to be less than the after-tax cost of debt. e. Since the costs of internal and external equity are related, an increase in the flotation cost required to sell a new issue of stock will increase the cost of reinvested earnings.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The WACC is calculated using a before-tax cost for debt that is equal to the interest rate that must be paid on new debt, along with the after-tax costs for common stock and for preferred stock if it is used. b. An increase in the risk-free rate is likely to reduce the marginal costs of both debt and equity. c. The relevant WACC can change depending on the amount of funds a firm raises during a given year. Moreover, the WACC at each level of funds raised is a weighted average of the marginal costs of each capital component, with the weights based on the firm's target capital structure. d. Beta measures market risk, which is generally the most relevant risk measure for a publicly-owned firm that seeks to maximize its intrinsic value. However, this is not true unless all of the firm's stockholders are well diversified. e. The bond-yield-plus-risk-premium approach to estimating the cost of common equity involves adding a risk premium to the interest rate on the company's own long-term bonds. The size of the risk premium for bonds with different ratings is published daily in The Wall Street Journal.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?a. If the calculated beta underestimates the firm's true investment risk-i.e., if the forward-looking beta that investors think exists exceeds the historical beta-then the CAPM method based on the historical beta will produce an estimate of rs and thus WACC that is too high.b. Beta measures market risk, which is, theoretically, the most relevant risk measure for a publicly-owned firm that seeks to maximize its intrinsic value. This is true even if not all of the firm's stockholders are well diversified.c. An advantage shared by both the dividend growth model and CAPM methods when they are used to estimate the cost of equity is that they are both "objective" as opposed to "subjective," hence little or no judgment is required.d. The specific risk premium used in the CAPM is the same as the risk premium used in the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium approach.e. The discounted cash flow method of estimating the cost of equity cannot be used unless the growth rate, g, is expected to be constant forever.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The dividend growth model is generally preferred by academics and financial executives over other models for estimating the cost of equity. This is because of the dividend growth model's logical appeal and also because accurate estimates for its key inputs, the dividend yield and the growth rate, are easy to obtain. b. The bond-yield-plus-risk-premium approach to estimating the cost of equity may not always be accurate, but it has the advantage that its two key inputs, the firm's own cost of debt and its risk premium, can be found by using standardized and objective procedures. c. Surveys indicate that the CAPM is the most widely used method for estimating the cost of equity. However, other methods are also used because CAPM estimates may be subject to error, and people like to use different methods as checks on one another. If all of the methods produce similar results, this increases the decision maker's confidence in the estimated cost of equity. d. The dividend growth model model is preferred by academics and finance practitioners over other cost of capital models because it correctly recognizes that the expected return on a stock consists of a dividend yield plus an expected capital gains yield. e. Although some methods used to estimate the cost of equity are subject to severe limitations, the CAPM is a simple, straightforward, and reliable model that consistently produces accurate cost of equity estimates. In particular, academics and corporate finance people generally agree that its key inputs⎯beta, the risk-free rate, and the market risk premium⎯can be estimated with little error.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The after-tax cost of debt that should be used as the component cost when calculating the WACC is the average after-tax cost of all the firm's outstanding debt. b. Suppose some of a publicly-traded firm's stockholders are not diversified; they hold only the one firm's stock. In this case, the CAPM approach will result in an estimated cost of equity that is too low in the sense that if it is used in capital budgeting, projects will be accepted that will reduce the firm's intrinsic value. c. The cost of equity is generally harder to measure than the cost of debt because there is no stated, contractual cost number on which to base the cost of equity. d. The bond-yield-plus-risk-premium approach is the most sophisticated and objective method for estimating a firm's cost of equity capital. e. The cost of capital used to evaluate a project should be the cost of the specific type of financing used to fund that project, i.e., it is the after-tax cost of debt if debt is to be used to finance the project or the cost of equity if the project will be financed with equity.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?a. A cost should be assigned to reinvested earnings due to the opportunity cost principle, which refers to the fact that the firm's stockholders would themselves expect to earn a return on earnings that were distributed rather than retained and reinvested.b. No cost should be assigned to reinvested earnings because the firm does not have to pay anything to raise them. They are generated as cash flows by operating assets that were raised in the past; hence, they are "free."c. Suppose a firm has been losing money and thus is not paying taxes, and this situation is expected to persist into the foreseeable future. In this case, the firm's before-tax and after-tax costs of debt for purposes of calculating the WACC will both be equal to the interest rate on the firm's currently outstanding debt, provided that debt was issued during the past 5 years.d. If a firm has enough reinvested earnings to fund its capital budget for the coming year, then there is no need to estimate either a cost of equity or a WACC.e. The component cost of preferred stock is expressed as rp(1 - T). This follows because preferred stock dividends are treated as fixed charges, and as such they can be deducted by the issuer for tax purposes.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? a. The tax-adjusted cost of debt is always greater than the interest rate on debt, provided the company does in fact pay taxes. b. If a company assigns the same cost of capital to all of its projects regardless of each project's risk, then the company is likely to reject some safe projects that it actually should accept and to accept some risky projects that it should reject. c. Because no flotation costs are required to obtain capital as reinvested earnings, the cost of reinvested earnings is generally lower than the after-tax cost of debt. d. Higher flotation costs tend to reduce the cost of equity capital. e. Since debt capital can cause a company to go bankrupt but equity capital cannot, debt is riskier than equity, and thus the after-tax cost of debt is always greater than the cost of equity.

Q: Which of the following statements is CORRECT? Assume a company's target capital structure is 50% debt and 50% common equity. a. The WACC is calculated on a before-tax basis. b. The WACC exceeds the cost of equity. c. The cost of equity is always equal to or greater than the cost of debt. d. The cost of reinvested earnings typically exceeds the cost of new common stock. e. The interest rate used to calculate the WACC is the average after-tax cost of all the company's outstanding debt as shown on its balance sheet.