Fight Finance

Question 41  DDM, income and capital returns

The following is the Dividend Discount Model (DDM) used to price stocks:

### P_0 = \frac{d_1}{r-g} ###

Assume that the assumptions of the DDM hold and that the time period is measured in years.

Which of the following is equal to the expected dividend in 3 years, ## d_3 ##?

(a) ## d_1(1+g)^3 ##

(b) ## P_3(r-g) ##

(c) ## d_2(1+g)^2 ##

(d) ## P_0(1+g)^3(r-g) ##

(e) ## P_0(1+g)^2(r-g) ##

Question 84  WACC, capital structure, capital budgeting

A firm is considering a new project of similar risk to the current risk of the firm. This project will expand its existing business. The cash flows of the project have been calculated assuming that there is no interest expense. In other words, the cash flows assume that the project is all-equity financed.

In fact the firm has a target debt-to-equity ratio of 1, so the project will be financed with 50% debt and 50% equity. To find the levered value of the firm's assets, what discount rate should be applied to the project's unlevered cash flows? Assume a classical tax system.

(a) The required return on equity, ##r_E##

(b) The required return on debt, ##r_D##

(c) The after-tax required return on debt, ##r_D.(1-t_c)##

(d) The after-tax WACC, ##\text{WACC after tax}=\frac{D}{V_L}.r_D.(1-t_c )+\frac{E_L}{V_L}.r_E##

(e) The pre-tax WACC, ##\text{WACC before tax}=\frac{D}{V_L}.r_D+\frac{E_L}{V_L}.r_E##

Question 300  NPV, opportunity cost

What is the net present value (NPV) of undertaking a full-time Australian undergraduate business degree as an Australian citizen? Only include the cash flows over the duration of the degree, ignore any benefits or costs of the degree after it's completed.

Assume the following:

• The degree takes 3 years to complete and all students pass all subjects.
• There are 2 semesters per year and 4 subjects per semester.
• University fees per subject per semester are $1,277, paid at the start of each semester. Fees are expected to remain constant in real terms for the next 3 years.
• There are 52 weeks per year.
• The first semester is just about to start (t=0). The first semester lasts for 19 weeks (t=0 to 19).
• The second semester starts immediately afterwards (t=19) and lasts for another 19 weeks (t=19 to 38).
• The summer holidays begin after the second semester ends and last for 14 weeks (t=38 to 52). Then the first semester begins the next year, and so on.
• Working full time at the grocery store instead of studying full-time pays $20/hr and you can work 35 hours per week. Wages are paid at the end of each week and are expected to remain constant in real terms.
• Full-time students can work full-time during the summer holiday at the grocery store for the same rate of $20/hr for 35 hours per week.
• The discount rate is 9.8% pa. All rates and cash flows are real. Inflation is expected to be 3% pa. All rates are effective annual.

The NPV of costs from undertaking the university degree is:

(a) $98,385.98

(b) $97,915.91

(c) $75,130.29

(d) $54,018.93

(e) $27,523.89

Question 310  foreign exchange rate

Is it possible for all countries' exchange rates to appreciate by 5% in the same year, including the USD? or ?

Question 462  equivalent annual cash flow

You own some nice shoes which you use once per week on date nights. You bought them 2 years ago for $500. In your experience, shoes used once per week last for 6 years. So you expect yours to last for another 4 years.

Your younger sister said that she wants to borrow your shoes once per week. With the increased use, your shoes will only last for another 2 years rather than 4.

What is the present value of the cost of letting your sister use your current shoes for the next 2 years?

Assume: that bank interest rates are 10% pa, given as an effective annual rate; you will buy a new pair of shoes when your current pair wears out and your sister will not use the new ones; your sister will only use your current shoes so she will only use it for the next 2 years; and the price of new shoes never changes.

(a) $164.6662

(b) $181.1328

(c) $199.2461

(d) $226.2443

(e) $301.1312

Question 508  income and capital returns

Which of the following equations is NOT equal to the total return of an asset?

Let ##p_0## be the current price, ##p_1## the expected price in one year and ##c_1## the expected income in one year.

(a) ##r_\text{total} = \dfrac{c_1+p_1-p_0}{p_0} ##

(b) ##r_\text{total} = \dfrac{c_1+p_1}{p_0} - 1##

(c) ##r_\text{total} = \dfrac{c_1}{p_0} + \dfrac{p_1-p_0}{p_0}##

(d) ##r_\text{total} = \dfrac{c_1}{p_0} + \dfrac{p_1}{p_0} ##

(e) ##r_\text{total} = \dfrac{c_1}{p_0} + \dfrac{p_1}{p_0} - 1##

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 570  foreign exchange rate

An American wishes to convert USD 1 million to Australian dollars (AUD). The exchange rate is 0.8 USD per AUD. How much is the USD 1 million worth in AUD?

(a) AUD 0.2 million.

(b) AUD 0.8 million

(c) AUD 1 million

(d) AUD 1.25 million.

(e) AUD 1.8 million.

Question 792  mean and median returns, return distribution, arithmetic and geometric averages, continuously compounding rate, log-normal distribution, confidence interval

A risk manager has identified that their investment fund’s continuously compounded portfolio returns are normally distributed with a mean of 10% pa and a standard deviation of 40% pa. The fund’s portfolio is currently valued at $1 million. Assume that there is no estimation error in the above figures. To simplify your calculations, all answers below use 2.33 as an approximation for the normal inverse cumulative density function at 99%. All answers are rounded to the nearest dollar. Assume one month is 1/12 of a year. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The median portfolio value in one year is $1,105,171. In one month it's $1,008,368.

(b) The mean portfolio value in one year is $1,197,217. In one month it's $1,015,113.

(c) The worst one percentile of portfolio values in one year is $435,178.

(d) The worst one percentile of portfolio values in one month is $933,016.

(e) The 98% confidence interval of portfolio values in two years is between $326,918 and $4,563,305.

Question 923  omitted variable bias, CAPM, single factor model, single index model, no explanation

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Single Index Model (SIM) are single factor models whose only risk factor is the market portfolio’s return. Say a Taxi company and an Umbrella company are influenced by two factors, the market portfolio return and rainfall. When it rains, both the Taxi and Umbrella companies’ stock prices do well. When there’s no rain, both do poorly. Assume that rainfall risk is a systematic risk that cannot be diversified and that rainfall has zero correlation with the market portfolio’s returns.

Which of the following statements about these two stocks is NOT correct?

The CAPM and SIM:

(a) Betas of the Taxi and Umbrella companies will only measure the companies’ sensitivity to the market portfolio risk factor, not the rainfall factor.

(b) Will over-estimate the Taxi and Umbrella stocks’ systematic variance.

(c) Will over-estimate the Taxi and Umbrella stocks’ diversifiable variance.

(d) Models will show positive correlations between the Taxi and Umbrella stock’s residual (also called idiosyncratic) returns.