Fight Finance

Question 37  IRR

If a project's net present value (NPV) is zero, then its internal rate of return (IRR) will be:

(a) Positive infinity (##+\infty##)

(b) Zero (0).

(c) Less than the project's required return.

(d) More than the project's required return.

(e) Equal to the project's required return.

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) Only III is true.

(b) Only II and III are true.

(c) Only I, II and III are true.

(d) Only IV is true.

(e) Either I, II and III are true, or IV is true, or they are all true.

Question 177  implicit interest rate in wholesale credit

A furniture distributor offers credit to its customers. Customers are given 25 days to pay for their goods, but if they pay immediately they will get a 1% discount.

What is the effective interest rate implicit in the discount being offered? Assume 365 days in a year and that all customers pay either immediately or on the 25th day. All rates given below are effective annual rates.

(a) 0.0004

(b) 0.1301

(c) 0.1365

(d) 0.1460

(e) 0.1580

Question 279  diversification

Do you think that the following statement is or ? “Buying a single company stock usually provides a safer return than a stock mutual fund.”

Question 399  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 owning (being long) the call option?

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

(b) ##\max(S_T - K, K)##.

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

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

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

Question 537  PE ratio, Multiples valuation, no explanation

Estimate the French bank Societe Generale's share price using a backward-looking price earnings (PE) multiples approach with the following assumptions and figures only. Note that EUR is the euro, the European monetary union's currency.

• The 4 major European banks Credit Agricole (ACA), Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), UniCredit (UCG) and Banco Santander (SAN) are comparable companies to Societe Generale (GLE);
• Societe Generale's (GLE's) historical earnings per share (EPS) is EUR 2.92;
• ACA's backward-looking PE ratio is 16.29 and historical EPS is EUR 0.84;
• DBK's backward-looking PE ratio is 25.01 and historical EPS is EUR 1.26;
• SAN's backward-looking PE ratio is 14.71 and historical EPS is EUR 0.47;
• UCG's backward-looking PE ratio is 15.78 and historical EPS is EUR 0.40;

Note: Figures sourced from Google Finance on 27 March 2015.

(a) EUR 209.6268

(b) EUR 52.4067

(c) EUR 8.6724

(d) EUR 3.9327

(e) EUR 2.1681

Question 587  option

Which of the following statements about option contracts is NOT correct? For every:

(a) Long call option there must be a short call option.

(b) Long put option there must be a short put option.

(c) Long option there must be a short option.

(d) Call option there must be a put option.

(e) Option trader who gains there must be one or more option traders who lose.

Question 714  return distribution, no explanation

Which of the following quantities is commonly assumed to be normally distributed?

(a) Prices, ##P_1##.

(b) Gross discrete returns per annum, ##r_{\text{gdr 0 }\rightarrow \text{ 1}} = \dfrac{P_1}{P_0} ##.

(c) Effective annual returns per annum also known as net discrete returns, ##r_{\text{eff 0 }\rightarrow \text{ 1}} = \dfrac{P_1 - P_0}{P_0} = \dfrac{P_1}{P_0}-1##.

(d) Continuously compounded returns per annum, ##r_{\text{cc 0 }\rightarrow \text{ 1}} = \ln \left( \dfrac{P_1}{P_0} \right)##.

(e) Annualised percentage rates compounding per month, ##r_{\text{apr comp monthly 0 }\rightarrow \text{ 1 mth}} = \left( \dfrac{P_1 - P_0}{P_0} \right) \times 12##.

Question 893  balance of payments, current account

This question is about the Balance of Payments. Australia's current account as a percent of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per annum is shown in the graph below.

Assume that all foreign and domestic assets are either debt which makes interest income or equity which makes dividend income, and vice versa for liabilities which cost interest and dividend payments, respectively.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) TradeSurplus = Exports - Imports

(b) NetIncome = DividendsReceived + InterestReceived - DividendsPaid - InterestPaid

(c) CurrentAccountSurplus = NetIncome - TradeSurplus

(d) CurrentAccountSurplus = -1 × NetCapitalInflow = NetCapitalOutflow

Question 907  continuously compounding rate, return types, return distribution, price gains and returns over time

For an asset's price to double from say $1 to $2 in one year, what must its continuously compounded return ##(r_{CC})## be? If the price now is ##P_0## and the price in one year is ##P_1## then the continuously compounded return over the next year is:

###r_\text{CC annual} = \ln{\left[ \dfrac{P_1}{P_0} \right]} = \text{LGDR}_\text{annual}###

(a) 0%

(b) 30.102999566%

(c) 69.314718056%

(d) 100%

(e) 200%