Question 100 market efficiency, technical analysis, joint hypothesis problem
A company selling charting and technical analysis software claims that independent academic studies have shown that its software makes significantly positive abnormal returns. Assuming the claim is true, which statement(s) are correct?
(I) Weak form market efficiency is broken.
(II) Semi-strong form market efficiency is broken.
(III) Strong form market efficiency is broken.
(IV) The asset pricing model used to measure the abnormal returns (such as the CAPM) had mis-specification error so the returns may not be abnormal but rather fair for the level of risk.
Select the most correct response:
A company has:
- 100 million ordinary shares outstanding which are trading at a price of $5 each. Market analysts estimated that the company's ordinary stock has a beta of 1.5. The risk-free rate is 5% and the market return is 10%.
- 1 million preferred shares which have a face (or par) value of $100 and pay a constant annual dividend of 9% of par. The next dividend will be paid in one year. Assume that all preference dividends will be paid when promised. They currently trade at a price of $90 each.
- Debentures that have a total face value of $200 million and a yield to maturity of 6% per annum. They are publicly traded and their market price is equal to 110% of their face value.
The corporate tax rate is 30%. All returns and yields are given as effective annual rates.
What is the company's after-tax Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)? Assume a classical tax system.
A stock is expected to pay the following dividends:
| Cash Flows of a Stock | ||||||
| Time (yrs) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ... |
| Dividend ($) | 0 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 20 | ... |
After year 4, the dividend will grow in perpetuity at 5% pa. The required return of the stock is 10% pa. Both the growth rate and required return are given as effective annual rates.
What is the current price of the stock?
Find Piano Bar's Cash Flow From Assets (CFFA), also known as Free Cash Flow to the Firm (FCFF), over the year ending 30th June 2013.
| Piano Bar | ||
| Income Statement for | ||
| year ending 30th June 2013 | ||
| $m | ||
| Sales | 310 | |
| COGS | 185 | |
| Operating expense | 20 | |
| Depreciation | 15 | |
| Interest expense | 10 | |
| Income before tax | 80 | |
| Tax at 30% | 24 | |
| Net income | 56 | |
| Piano Bar | ||
| Balance Sheet | ||
| as at 30th June | 2013 | 2012 |
| $m | $m | |
| Assets | ||
| Current assets | 240 | 230 |
| PPE | ||
| Cost | 420 | 400 |
| Accumul. depr. | 50 | 35 |
| Carrying amount | 370 | 365 |
| Total assets | 610 | 595 |
| Liabilities | ||
| Current liabilities | 180 | 190 |
| Non-current liabilities | 290 | 265 |
| Owners' equity | ||
| Retained earnings | 90 | 90 |
| Contributed equity | 50 | 50 |
| Total L and OE | 610 | 595 |
Note: all figures are given in millions of dollars ($m).
In the 1997 Asian financial crisis many countries' exchange rates depreciated rapidly against the US dollar (USD). The Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean and Filipino currencies were severely affected. The below graph shows these Asian countries' currencies in USD per one unit of their currency, indexed to 100 in June 1997.
Of the statements below, which is NOT correct? The Asian countries':
Calculate the price of a newly issued ten year bond with a face value of $100, a yield of 8% pa and a fixed coupon rate of 6% pa, paid semi-annually. So there are two coupons per year, paid in arrears every six months.
Alice, Bob, Chris and Delta are traders in the futures market. The following trades occur over a single day in a newly-opened equity index future that matures in one year which the exchange just made available.
1. Alice buys a future from Bob.
2. Chris buys a future from Delta.
3. Bob buys a future from Chris.
These were the only trades made in this equity index future. What was the trading volume and what is the open interest?
Question 888 foreign exchange rate, speculation, no explanation
The current Australian exchange rate is 0.8 USD per AUD.
If you think that the AUD will depreciate against the USD, contrary to the rest of the market, how could you profit? Right now you should:
A Malaysian man wishes to convert 1 million Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) into Indian Rupees (IND). The exchange rate is 4.2 MYR per USD and 71 IND per USD. How much is the MYR 1 million worth in IND?
The required return of a building project is 10%, given as an effective annual rate. Assume that the cash flows shown in the table are paid all at once at the given point in time.
The building firm is just about to start the project and the client has signed the contract. Initially the firm will pay $100 to the sub-contractors to carry out the work and then will receive an $11 payment from the client in one year and $121 when the project is finished in 2 years. Ignore credit risk.
But the building company is considering selling the project to a competitor at different points in time and is pondering the minimum price that they should sell it for.
| Project Cash Flows | |
| Time (yrs) | Cash flow ($) |
| 0 | -100 |
| 1 | 11 |
| 2 | 121 |
Which of the below statements is NOT correct? The project is worth: