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Question 46  NPV, annuity due

The phone company Telstra have 2 mobile service plans on offer which both have the same amount of phone call, text message and internet data credit. Both plans have a contract length of 24 months and the monthly cost is payable in advance. The only difference between the two plans is that one is a:

  • 'Bring Your Own' (BYO) mobile service plan, costing $50 per month. There is no phone included in this plan. The other plan is a:
  • 'Bundled' mobile service plan that comes with the latest smart phone, costing $71 per month. This plan includes the latest smart phone.

Neither plan has any additional payments at the start or end.

The only difference between the plans is the phone, so what is the implied cost of the phone as a present value?

Assume that the discount rate is 2% per month given as an effective monthly rate, the same high interest rate on credit cards.



Question 256  APR, effective rate

A 2 year corporate bond yields 3% pa with a coupon rate of 5% pa, paid semi-annually.

Find the effective monthly rate, effective six month rate, and effective annual rate.

##r_\text{eff monthly}##, ##r_\text{eff 6 month}##, ##r_\text{eff annual}##.



Question 284  covariance, correlation

The following table shows a sample of historical total returns of shares in two different companies A and B.

Stock Returns
Total effective annual returns
Year ##r_A## ##r_B##
2007 0.2 0.4
2008 0.04 -0.2
2009 -0.1 -0.3
2010 0.18 0.5
 

What is the historical sample covariance (##\hat{\sigma}_{A,B}##) and correlation (##\rho_{A,B}##) of stock A and B's total effective annual returns?



Question 535  DDM, real and nominal returns and cash flows, stock pricing

You are an equities analyst trying to value the equity of the Australian telecoms company Telstra, with ticker TLS. In Australia, listed companies like Telstra tend to pay dividends every 6 months. The payment around August is called the final dividend and the payment around February is called the interim dividend. Both occur annually.

  • Today is mid-March 2015.
  • TLS's last interim dividend of $0.15 was one month ago in mid-February 2015.
  • TLS's last final dividend of $0.15 was seven months ago in mid-August 2014.

Judging by TLS's dividend history and prospects, you estimate that the nominal dividend growth rate will be 1% pa. Assume that TLS's total nominal cost of equity is 6% pa. The dividends are nominal cash flows and the inflation rate is 2.5% pa. All rates are quoted as nominal effective annual rates. Assume that each month is exactly one twelfth (1/12) of a year, so you can ignore the number of days in each month.

Calculate the current TLS share price.



Question 545  income and capital returns, fully amortising loan, no explanation

Which of the following statements about the capital and income returns of a 25 year fully amortising loan asset is correct?

Assume that the yield curve (which shows total returns over different maturities) is flat and is not expected to change.

Over the 25 years from issuance to maturity, a fully amortising loan's expected annual effective:



Question 654  future, forward

Which of the following statements about futures and forward contracts is NOT correct?



Question 694  utility

Which of the below statements about utility is NOT generally accepted by economists? Most people are thought to:



Question 746  pay back period

A stock is expected to pay a dividend of $1 in one year. Its future annual dividends are expected to grow by 10% pa. So the first dividend of $1 is in one year, and the year after that the dividend will be $1.1 (=1*(1+0.1)^1), and a year later $1.21 (=1*(1+0.1)^2) and so on forever.

Its required total return is 30% pa. The total required return and growth rate of dividends are given as effective annual rates. The stock is fairly priced.

Calculate the pay back period of buying the stock and holding onto it forever, assuming that the dividends are received as at each time, not smoothly over each year.



Question 775  utility, utility function

Below is a graph of 3 peoples’ utility functions, Mr Blue (U=W^(1/2) ), Miss Red (U=W/10) and Mrs Green (U=W^2/1000). Assume that each of them currently have $50 of wealth.

Utility curves

Which of the following statements about them is NOT correct?

(a) Mr Blue would prefer to invest his wealth in a well diversified portfolio of stocks rather than a single stock, assuming that all stocks had the same total risk and return.



Question 939  CAPM, systematic and idiosyncratic risk

A common phrase heard in financial markets is that ‘high risk investments deserve high returns’. To make this statement consistent with the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), a high amount of what specific type of risk deserves a high return?

Investors deserve high returns when they buy assets with high: