Fight Finance

Question 111  portfolio risk, correlation

All things remaining equal, the variance of a portfolio of two positively-weighted stocks rises as:

(a) The correlation between the stocks' returns rise.

(b) The correlation between the stocks' returns decline.

(c) The portfolio standard deviation declines.

(d) Both stocks' individual variances decline.

(e) Both stocks' individual standard deviations decline.

Question 205  depreciation tax shield, CFFA

There are a number of ways that assets can be depreciated. Generally the government's tax office stipulates a certain method.

But if it didn't, what would be the ideal way to depreciate an asset from the perspective of a businesses owner?

(a) 'Straight line' or 'prime cost' depreciation, which allocates equal depreciation expenses over each year of the asset's life.

(b) 'Diminishing value' or 'reducing balance' depreciation, which allocates more depreciation expense at the start of the asset's life and less towards the end.

(c) No depreciation at all, so the asset is always kept on the books as being the same value that it was bought for. The asset will cause no depreciation expense in any year.

(d) Allocating all of the depreciation expense to the final year of the asset's life.

(e) Allocating all of the depreciation expense to the first year of the asset's life. Accountants would call this 'expensing' the asset, rather than 'capitalising' it and depreciating it slowly.

Question 213  income and capital returns, bond pricing, premium par and discount bonds

The coupon rate of a fixed annual-coupon bond is constant (always the same).

What can you say about the income return (##r_\text{income}##) of a fixed annual coupon bond? Remember that:

###r_\text{total} = r_\text{income} + r_\text{capital}###

###r_\text{total, 0 to 1} = \frac{c_1}{p_0} + \frac{p_1-p_0}{p_0}###

Assume that there is no change in the bond's total annual yield to maturity from when it is issued to when it matures.

Select the most correct statement.

From its date of issue until maturity, the income return of a fixed annual coupon:

(a) Premium bond will increase.

(b) Premium bond will decrease.

(c) Premium bond will remain constant.

(d) Par bond will increase.

(e) Par bond will decrease.

Question 349  CFFA, depreciation tax shield

Which one of the following will decrease net income (NI) but increase cash flow from assets (CFFA) in this year for a tax-paying firm, all else remaining constant?

Remember:

###NI = (Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c )### ###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - \Delta NWC+IntExp###

(a) An increase in revenue (Rev).

(b) An increase in rent expense (part of fixed costs, FC).

(c) An increase in depreciation expense (Depr).

(d) An decrease in net working capital (ΔNWC).

(e) An increase in dividends.

Question 430  option, no explanation

A European call option will mature in ##T## years with a strike price of ##K## dollars. The underlying asset has a price of ##S## dollars.

What is an expression for the payoff at maturity ##(f_T)## in dollars from having written (being short) the call option?

(a) ##\min(S_T - K, 0)##.

(b) ##-\min(S_T - K, 0)##.

(c) ##\max(K-S_T, 0)##.

(d) ##-\max(K-S_T, 0)##.

(e)##-\max(S_T-K, 0)##.

Question 531  bankruptcy or insolvency, capital structure, risk, limited liability

Who is most in danger of being personally bankrupt? Assume that all of their businesses' assets are highly liquid and can therefore be sold immediately.

(a) Alice has $6,000 cash, owes $10,000 credit card debt due immediately and 100% owns a sole tradership business with assets worth $10,000 and liabilities of $3,000.

(b) Billy has $10,000 cash, owes $6,000 credit card debt due immediately and 100% owns a corporate business with assets worth $3,000 and liabilities of $10,000.

(c) Carla has $6,000 cash, owes $10,000 credit card debt due immediately and 100% owns a corporate business with assets worth $10,000 and liabilities of $3,000.

(d) Darren has $10,000 cash, owes $6,000 credit card debt due immediately and 100% owns a sole tradership business with assets worth $3,000 and liabilities of $10,000.

(e) Ernie has $1,000 cash, lent $3,000 to his friend, and doesn't have any personal debt or own any businesses.

Question 697  utility, risk aversion, utility function

Mr Blue, Miss Red and Mrs Green are people with different utility functions. Which of the statements about the 3 utility functions is NOT correct?

(a) Mr Blue and Miss Red prefer more wealth to less.

(b) Mrs Green enjoys losing wealth.

(c) Mr Blue is risk averse.

(d) Miss Red is risk neutral.

(e) Mrs Green is risk averse.

Question 736  debt terminology

You bought a house, primarily funded using a home loan from a bank. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The home loan is a debt liability to the bank.

(b) The bank invested in your debt.

(c) You are indebted to the bank.

(d) You owe the bank principal and interest payments.

(e) You sold your promise to the bank to pay the principal and interest.

Question 764  bond pricing, no explanation

A 4.5% fixed coupon Australian Government bond was issued at par in mid-April 2009. Coupons are paid semi-annually in arrears in mid-April and mid-October each year. The face value is $1,000. The bond will mature in mid-April 2020, so the bond had an original tenor of 11 years.

Today is mid-September 2015 and similar bonds now yield 1.9% pa.

What is the bond's new price? Note: there are 10 semi-annual coupon payments remaining from now (mid-September 2015) until maturity (mid-April 2020); both yields are given as APR's compounding semi-annually; assume that the yield curve was flat before the change in yields, and remained flat afterwards as well.

(a) $1,108.390216

(b) $1,114.640575

(c) $1,123.457853

(d) $1,127.892613

(e) $1,132.344879

Question 904  option, Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing, option on future on stock index

A six month European-style call option on six month S&P500 index futures has a strike price of 2800 points.

The six month futures price on the S&P500 index is currently at 2740.805274 points. The futures underlie the call option.

The S&P500 stock index currently trades at 2700 points. The stock index underlies the futures. The stock index's standard deviation of continuously compounded returns is 25% pa.

The risk-free interest rate is 5% pa continuously compounded.

Use the Black-Scholes-Merton formula to calculate the option price. The call option price now is:

(a) 226.43 points

(b) 220.56 points

(c) 176.21 points

(d) 162.83 points

(e) 128.92 points