Fight Finance

Question 13  bond pricing

For a price of $100, Rad will sell you a 5 year bond paying semi-annual coupons of 16% pa. The face value of the bond is $100. Other bonds with the same risk, maturity and coupon characteristics trade at a yield of 6% pa.

Would you like to the bond or politely ?

Question 62  implicit interest rate in wholesale credit

A wholesale building supplies business offers credit to its customers. Customers are given 60 days to pay for their goods, but if they pay within 7 days they will get a 2% discount.

What is the effective interest rate implicit in the discount being offered?

Assume 365 days in a year and that all customers pay on either the 7th day or the 60th day. All rates given below are effective annual rates.

(a) 0.000381

(b) 0.129887

(c) 0.137736

(d) 0.149276

(e) 0.278643

Question 63  bond pricing, NPV, market efficiency

The theory of fixed interest bond pricing is an application of the theory of Net Present Value (NPV). Also, a 'fairly priced' asset is not over- or under-priced. Buying or selling a fairly priced asset has an NPV of zero.

Considering this, which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The internal rate of return (IRR) of buying a bond is equal to the bond's yield.

(b) The present value of a fairly priced bond's coupons and face value is equal to its price.

(c) If the required return of a bond falls, its price will fall.

(d) Fairly priced discount bonds' yield is more than the coupon rate, price is less than face value, and the NPV of buying them is zero.

(e) The NPV of buying a fairly priced bond is zero.

Question 181  DDM

A stock pays annual dividends. It just paid a dividend of $5. The growth rate in the dividend is 1% pa. You estimate that the stock's required return is 8% pa. Both the discount rate and growth rate are given as effective annual rates.

Using the dividend discount model, what will be the share price?

(a) 72.1429

(b) 71.4286

(c) 63.1250

(d) 63.1150

(e) 62.5000

Question 282  expected and historical returns, income and capital returns

You're the boss of an investment bank's equities research team. Your five analysts are each trying to find the expected total return over the next year of shares in a mining company. The mining firm:

• Is regarded as a mature company since it's quite stable in size and was floated around 30 years ago. It is not a high-growth company;
• Share price is very sensitive to changes in the price of the market portfolio, economic growth, the exchange rate and commodities prices. Due to this, its standard deviation of total returns is much higher than that of the market index;
• Experienced tough times in the last 10 years due to unexpected falls in commodity prices.
• Shares are traded in an active liquid market.

Your team of analysts present their findings, and everyone has different views. While there's no definitive true answer, whose calculation of the expected total return is the most plausible? Assume that:

• The analysts' source data is correct and true, but their inferences might be wrong;
• All returns and yields are given as effective annual nominal rates.

(a) Alice says 5% pa since she calculated that this was the average total yield on government bonds over the last 10 years. She says that this is also the expected total yield implied by current prices on one year government bonds.

(b) Bob says 4% pa since he calculated that this was the average total return on the mining stock over the last 10 years.

(c) Cate says 3% pa since she calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share price over the last 10 years.

(d) Dave says 6% pa since he calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share market price index (not the accumulation index) over the last 10 years.

(e) Eve says 15% pa since she calculated that this was the discount rate implied by the dividend discount model using the current share price, forecast dividend in one year and a 3% growth rate in dividends thereafter, which is the expected long term inflation rate.

Question 295  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, NPV

When valuing assets using discounted cash flow (net present value) methods, it is important to consider inflation. To properly deal with inflation:

(I) Discount nominal cash flows by nominal discount rates.

(II) Discount nominal cash flows by real discount rates.

(III) Discount real cash flows by nominal discount rates.

(IV) Discount real cash flows by real discount rates.

Which of the above statements is or are correct?

(a) I only.

(b) III only.

(c) IV only.

(d) I and IV only.

(e) II and III only.

Question 315  foreign exchange rate, American and European terms

If the current AUD exchange rate is USD 0.9686 = AUD 1, what is the European terms quote of the AUD against the USD?

(a) 0.9686 USD per AUD

(b) 0.9686 AUD per USD

(c) 1.0324 USD per AUD

(d) 1.0324 AUD per USD

(e) 1.0324 AUD per EUR

Question 416  real estate, market efficiency, income and capital returns, DDM, CAPM

A residential real estate investor believes that house prices will grow at a rate of 5% pa and that rents will grow by 2% pa forever.

All rates are given as nominal effective annual returns. Assume that:

• His forecast is true.
• Real estate is and always will be fairly priced and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is true.
• Ignore all costs such as taxes, agent fees, maintenance and so on.
• All rental income cash flow is paid out to the owner, so there is no re-investment and therefore no additions or improvements made to the property.
• The non-monetary benefits of owning real estate and renting remain constant.

Which one of the following statements is NOT correct? Over time:

(a) The rental yield will fall and approach zero.

(b) The total return will fall and approach the capital return (5% pa).

(c) One or all of the following must fall: the systematic risk of real estate, the risk free rate or the market risk premium.

(d) If the country's nominal wealth growth rate is 4% pa and the nominal real estate growth rate is 5% pa then real estate will approach 100% of the country's wealth over time.

(e) If the country's nominal gross domestic production (GDP) growth rate is 4% pa and the nominal real estate rent growth rate is 2% pa then real estate rent will approach 100% of the country's GDP over time.

Question 757  bond pricing, capital raising, no explanation

A firm wishes to raise $50 million now. They will issue 5% pa semi-annual coupon bonds that will mature in 10 years and have a face value of $100 each. Bond yields are 5% pa, given as an APR compounding every 6 months, and the yield curve is flat.

How many bonds should the firm issue?

(a) 305,136

(b) 308,888

(c) 359,783

(d) 500,000

(e) 809,358

Question 911  money market

Which of the following is also known as 'commercial paper'?

(a) Bank accepted bill (BAB).

(b) Certificate of deposit (CD).

(c) Fixed coupon bond.

(d) Promissory note (PN)

(e) Treasury note or bill.