Fight Finance

Question 69  interest tax shield, capital structure, leverage, WACC

Which statement about risk, required return and capital structure is the most correct?

(a) The before-tax cost of debt is less than the before-tax cost of equity. Therefore debt is a cheaper form of financing than equity so companies should try to finance their projects with debt only.

(b) Debt makes a firm's equity more risky. Therefore the higher the amount of debt, the higher the cost of equity.

(c) The more debt a firm has, the higher its tax shields. Therefore firms should seek to have as much debt and as little equity as possible.

(d) The more debt, the lower the firm's after tax WACC. The after tax WACC is the discount rate that discounts the firm's cash flows, so the lower it is the more the firm is worth. Therefore firms should try to make their after tax WACC as low as possible by using as much debt as possible.

(e) The less debt, the lower the chance of bankruptcy. Therefore firms should try to pay off all of their debt so that they are financed by equity only.

Question 296  CFFA, interest tax shield

Which one of the following will decrease net income (NI) but increase cash flow from assets (CFFA) in this year for a tax-paying firm, all else remaining constant?

Remember:

###NI=(Rev-COGS-FC-Depr-IntExp).(1-t_c )### ###CFFA=NI+Depr-CapEx - ΔNWC+IntExp###

(a) An increase in revenue (##Rev##).

(b) An decrease in revenue (##Rev##).

(c) An increase in rent expense (part of fixed costs, ##FC##).

(d) An increase in interest expense (##IntExp##).

(e) An increase in dividends.

Question 424  takeover

Acquirer firm plans to launch a takeover of Target firm. The deal is expected to create a present value of synergies totaling $2 million. A cash offer will be made that pays the fair price for the target's shares plus 70% of the total synergy value. The cash will be paid out of the firm's cash holdings, no new debt or equity will be raised.

Firms Involved in the Takeover
	Acquirer	Target
Assets ($m)	60	10
Debt ($m)	20	2
Share price ($)	10	8
Number of shares (m)	4	1

Ignore transaction costs and fees. Assume that the firms' debt and equity are fairly priced, and that each firms' debts' risk, yield and values remain constant. The acquisition is planned to occur immediately, so ignore the time value of money.

Calculate the merged firm's share price and total number of shares after the takeover has been completed.

(a) $10.15 share price and 4m shares on issue.

(b) $11.6279 share price and 4.3m shares on issue.

(c) $7.72 share price and 5m shares on issue.

(d) $9.3 share price and 4m shares on issue.

(e) $9.65 share price and 4m shares on issue.

Question 442  economic depreciation, no explanation

A fairly valued share's current price is $4 and it has a total required return of 30%. Dividends are paid annually and next year's dividend is expected to be $1. After that, dividends are expected to grow by 5% pa. All rates are effective annual returns.

What is the expected dividend cash flow, economic depreciation, and economic income and economic value added (EVA) that will be earned over the second year (from t=1 to t=2) and paid at the end of that year (t=2)?

(a) $1.3, -$0.26, $1.56, $0

(b) $1.25, -$0.25, $1.5, $0

(c) $1.1025, -$0.2205, $1.323, $0

(d) $1.05, -$0.21, $1.26, $0

(e) $1, -$0.2, $1.2, $0

Question 478  income and capital returns

Total cash flows can be broken into income and capital cash flows. What is the name given to the income cash flow from owning shares?

(a) Dividends.

(b) Rent.

(c) Coupons.

(d) Loan payments.

(e) Capital gains.

Question 586  option

Which one of the following statements about option contracts is NOT correct?

(a) Option premium is another name for option price.

(b) An option contract's price is always changing.

(c) Strike price is another name for exercise price.

(d) An option contract's strike price is always changing.

(e) Call and put option premiums are paid at the start when the option is bought. Call option exercise prices are paid when they are exercised, usually at maturity.

Question 596  future, continuously compounding rate

An equity index is currently at 5,000 points. The 2 year futures price is 5,400 points and the total required return is 8% pa with continuous compounding. Each index point is worth $25.

What is the implied continuous dividend yield as a continuously compounded rate per annum?

(a) 0.3039% pa

(b) 3.8481% pa

(c) 4.1519% pa

(d) 7.3922% pa

(e) 7.6961% pa

Question 622  expected and historical returns, risk

An economy has only two investable assets: stocks and cash.

Stocks had a historical nominal average total return of negative two percent per annum (-2% pa) over the last 20 years. Stocks are liquid and actively traded. Stock returns are variable, they have risk.

Cash is riskless and has a nominal constant return of zero percent per annum (0% pa), which it had in the past and will have in the future. Cash can be kept safely at zero cost. Cash can be converted into shares and vice versa at zero cost.

The nominal total return of the shares over the next year is expected to be:

(a) Less than or equal to negative two percent per annum ##(r_\text{shares} \leq -0.02)##.

(b) Exactly negative two percent per annum ##(r_\text{shares} = -0.02)##.

(c) More than or equal to negative two percent per annum ##(r_\text{shares} \geq -0.02)##.

(d) Less than or equal to zero percent per annum ##(r_\text{shares} \leq 0)##.

(e) More than or equal to zero percent per annum ##(r_\text{shares} \geq 0)##.

Question 634  continuously compounding rate

A $100 stock has a continuously compounded expected total return of 10% pa. Its dividend yield is 2% pa with continuous compounding. What do you expect its price to be in one year?

(a) $112.749685

(b) $110.517092

(c) $110

(d) $108.328707

(e) $108

Question 825  future, hedging, tailing the hedge, speculation, no explanation

An equity index fund manager controls a USD500 million diversified equity portfolio with a beta of 0.9. The equity manager expects a significant rally in equity prices next year. The market does not think that this will happen. If the fund manager wishes to increase his portfolio beta to 1.5, how many S&P500 futures should he buy?

The US market equity index is the S&P500. One year CME futures on the S&P500 currently trade at 2,155 points and the spot price is 2,180 points. Each point is worth $250.

The number of one year S&P500 futures contracts that the fund manager should buy is:

(a) 550

(b) 557

(c) 826

(d) 835

(e) 1392