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.
Which one of the following will increase the Cash Flow From Assets in this year for a tax-paying firm, all else remaining constant?
Select the most correct statement from the following.
'Chartists', also known as 'technical traders', believe that:
Which of the following statements about short-selling is NOT true?
Question 461 book and market values, ROE, ROA, market efficiency
One year ago a pharmaceutical firm floated by selling its 1 million shares for $100 each. Its book and market values of equity were both $100m. Its debt totalled $50m. The required return on the firm's assets was 15%, equity 20% and debt 5% pa.
In the year since then, the firm:
- Earned net income of $29m.
- Paid dividends totaling $10m.
- Discovered a valuable new drug that will lead to a massive 1,000 times increase in the firm's net income in 10 years after the research is commercialised. News of the discovery was publicly announced. The firm's systematic risk remains unchanged.
Which of the following statements is NOT correct? All statements are about current figures, not figures one year ago.
Hint: Book return on assets (ROA) and book return on equity (ROE) are ratios that accountants like to use to measure a business's past performance.
###\text{ROA}= \dfrac{\text{Net income}}{\text{Book value of assets}}###
###\text{ROE}= \dfrac{\text{Net income}}{\text{Book value of equity}}###
The required return on assets ##r_V## is a return that financiers like to use to estimate a business's future required performance which compensates them for the firm's assets' risks. If the business were to achieve realised historical returns equal to its required returns, then investment into the business's assets would have been a zero-NPV decision, which is neither good nor bad but fair.
###r_\text{V, 0 to 1}= \dfrac{\text{Cash flow from assets}_\text{1}}{\text{Market value of assets}_\text{0}} = \dfrac{CFFA_\text{1}}{V_\text{0}}###
Similarly for equity and debt.
Question 664 real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, no explanation
What is the present value of real payments of $100 every year forever, with the first payment in one year? The nominal discount rate is 7% pa and the inflation rate is 4% pa.
A non-dividend paying stock has a current price of $20.
The risk free rate is 5% pa given as a continuously compounded rate.
A 2 year futures contract on the stock has a futures price of $24.
You suspect that the futures contract is mis-priced and would like to conduct a risk-free arbitrage that requires zero capital. Which of the following steps about arbitraging the situation is NOT correct?
Question 978 comparative advantage in trade, production possibilities curve, no explanation
Arthur and Bindi are the only people on a remote island. Their production possibility curves are shown in the graph.
Assuming that Arthur and Bindi cooperate according to the principles of comparative advantage, what will be their combined production possibilities curve?
Question 1003 Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing, log-normal distribution, return distribution, hedge fund, risk, financial distress
A hedge fund issued zero coupon bonds with a combined $1 billion face value due to be paid in 3 years. The promised yield to maturity is currently 6% pa given as a continuously compounded return (or log gross discrete return, ##LGDR=\ln[P_T/P_0] \div T##).
The hedge fund owns stock assets worth $1.1 billion now which are expected to have a 10% pa arithmetic average log gross discrete return ##(\text{AALGDR} = \sum\limits_{t=1}^T{\left( \ln[P_t/P_{t-1}] \right)} \div T)## and 30pp pa standard deviation (SDLGDR) in the future.
Analyse the hedge fund using the Merton model of corporate equity as an option on the firm's assets.
The risk free government bond yield to maturity is currently 5% pa given as a continuously compounded return or LGDR.
Which of the below statements is NOT correct? All figures are rounded to the sixth decimal place.