Fight Finance

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.

(a) $389.4044

(b) $397.1924

(c) $405.1363

(d) $504.0000

(e) $964.6102

Question 90  CAPM, risk

According to the theory of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), total variance can be broken into two components, systematic variance and idiosyncratic variance. Which of the following events would be considered the most diversifiable according to the theory of the CAPM?

(a) Global economic recession.

(b) A major terrorist attack, grounding all commercial aircraft in the US and Europe.

(c) An increase in corporate tax rates.

(d) The outbreak of world war.

(e) A company's poor earnings announcement.

Question 106  CAPM

A fairly priced stock has an expected return of 15% pa. Treasury bonds yield 5% pa and the market portfolio's expected return is 10% pa. What is the beta of the stock?

(a) 0

(b) 0.5

(c) 1

(d) 1.5

(e) 2

Question 112  CAPM, risk

According to the theory of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), total risk can be broken into two components, systematic risk and idiosyncratic risk. Which of the following events would be considered a systematic, undiversifiable event according to the theory of the CAPM?

(a) A decrease in house prices in one city.

(b) An increase in mining industry tax rates.

(c) An increase in corporate tax rates.

(d) A case of fraud at a major retailer.

(e) A poor earnings announcement from a major firm.

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 470  accounting ratio, no explanation

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) A firm's quick ratio will always be equal to or less than its current ratio.

(b) A firm will have positive net working capital if it has a current ratio that's greater than one.

(c) A firm's gross margin will be greater than or equal to its operating margin, which will be greater than or equal to its net profit margin.

(d) A firm's fixed asset turnover will be less than or equal to asset turnover.

(e) A firm's debt to equity ratio will always be greater than or equal to its debt to assets ratio.

Question 777  CAPM, beta

The market's expected total return is 10% pa and the risk free rate is 5% pa, both given as effective annual rates.

A stock has a beta of 0.5.

In the last 5 minutes, the federal government unexpectedly raised taxes. Over this time the share market fell by 3%. The risk free rate was unchanged.

What do you think was the stock's historical return over the last 5 minutes, given as an effective 5 minute rate?

(a) -1%

(b) -1.5%

(c) -2.5%

(d) -3%

(e) -7.5%

Question 851  labour force, no explanation

Below is a table showing some figures about the Australian labour force.

Australian Labour Force and Employment Data
April 2017 Seasonally Adjusted figures
Employed persons ('000)	12 061.9
Unemployed persons ('000)	751.4
Unemployment rate (%)	5.9
Participation rate (%)	64.8

 

Source: ABS 6202.0 Labour Force, Australia, Apr 2017

What do you estimate is the size of working age population in thousands (‘000)?

(a) 1,160

(b) 12,813

(c) 18,614

(d) 19,774

(e) 217,175

Question 980  balance of payments, current account, no explanation

Observe the below graph of the US current account surplus as a proportion of GDP.

Define lending as buying (or saving or investing in) debt and equity assets.

The sum of US ‘net private saving’ plus ‘net general government lending’ equals the US:

(a) Trade surplus.

(b) Net Capital inflow

(c) Net Income surplus.

(d) Central bank FX reserves.

(e) General government fiscal surplus.