Fight Finance

In the Merton model of corporate debt, buying a levered company's debt is equivalent to buying risk free government bonds and:

In the Merton model of corporate debt, buying a levered company's shares is equivalent to:

In the Merton model of corporate debt, buying a levered company's debt is equivalent to buying the company's assets and:

A risky firm will last for one period only (t=0 to 1), then it will be liquidated. So it's assets will be sold and the debt holders and equity holders will be paid out in that order. The firm has the following quantities:

##V## = Market value of assets.

##E## = Market value of (levered) equity.

##D## = Market value of zero coupon bonds.

##F_1## = Total face value of zero coupon bonds which is promised to be paid in one year.

The levered equity graph above contains bold labels a to e. Which of the following statements about those labels is NOT correct?

The cheapest mobile phones available tend to be those that are 'locked' into a cell phone operator's network. Locked phones can not be used with other cell phone operators' networks.

Locked mobile phones are cheaper than unlocked phones because the locked-in network operator helps create a monopoly by:

A levered firm has a market value of assets of $10m. Its debt is all comprised of zero-coupon bonds which mature in one year and have a combined face value of $9.9m.

Investors are risk-neutral and therefore all debt and equity holders demand the same required return of 10% pa.

Therefore the current market capitalisation of debt ##(D_0)## is $9m and equity ##(E_0)## is $1m.

A new project presents itself which requires an investment of $2m and will provide a:

• $6.6m cash flow with probability 0.5 in the good state of the world, and a
• -$4.4m (notice the negative sign) cash flow with probability 0.5 in the bad state of the world.

The project can be funded using the company's excess cash, no debt or equity raisings are required.

What would be the new market capitalisation of equity ##(E_\text{0, with project})## if shareholders vote to proceed with the project, and therefore should shareholders proceed with the project?

Which of the following quantities from the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing formula gives the Delta of a European put option?

Which of the following quantities from the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing formula gives the risk-neutral probability that a European put option will be exercised?

Which option position has the possibility of unlimited potential losses?

If trader A has sold the right that allows counterparty B to buy the underlying asset from him at maturity if counterparty B wants then trader A is:

Which of the following statements about call options is NOT correct?

All things remaining equal, according to the capital asset pricing model, if the systematic variance of an asset increases, its required return will increase and its price will decrease.
If the idiosyncratic variance of an asset increases, its price will be unchanged.

What is the relationship between the price of a call or put option and the total, systematic and idiosyncratic variance of the underlying asset that the option is based on? Select the most correct answer.

Call and put option prices increase when the:

Being long a call and short a put which have the same exercise prices and underlying stock is equivalent to being:

Which of the following investable assets are NOT suitable for valuation using PE multiples techniques?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked a question to ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood on 6 April 2021: "What do you think of the unusually high ratio of the S&P market cap to GDP?", to which Cathie Wood replied.

What are the units of this S&P500 market cap to GDP ratio, commonly known as the Buffett ratio?

An analyst is valuing a levered company whose owners insist on keeping the dollar amount of debt funding fixed. So the company cannot issue or repay its debt, its dollar value must remain constant. Any funding gaps will be met with equity.

The analyst is wondering, as he changes inputs into his valuation, such as the forecast growth rate of sales, then asset values and other things will change. This makes it hard to figure out which values can be held constant and would therefore make good model inputs, rather than outputs which vary depending on the inputs. Assume that the cost of debt (yield) remains constant and the company’s asset beta will also remain constant since any expansion (or downsize) will involve buying (or selling) more of the same assets.

Which of the following values can be assumed to stay constant when projected sales growth increases?

An analyst is valuing a levered company whose owners insist on keeping a constant market debt to assets ratio into the future.

The analyst is wondering how asset values and other things in her model will change when she changes the forecast sales growth rate.

Which of the below values will increase as the forecast growth rate of sales increases, with the debt to assets ratio remaining constant?

Assume that the cost of debt (yield) remains constant and the company’s asset beta will also remain constant since any expansion (or downsize) will involve buying (or selling) more of the same assets.

The analyst should expect which value or ratio to increase when the forecast growth rate of sales increases and the debt to assets ratio remains unchanged? In other words, which of the following values will NOT remain constant?

Acquirer firm plans to launch a takeover of Target firm. The deal is expected to create a present value of synergies totaling $105 million. A scrip offer will be made that pays the fair price for the target's shares plus 75% of the total synergy value.

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 company's share price fell by 20% and its number of shares rose by 25%. Assume that there are no taxes, no signalling effects and no transaction costs.

Which one of the following corporate events may have happened?

Below is a table showing GMO's 2016 estimates of different assets' durations, appearing in Slater (2017).

If you were certain that interest rates would fall more than the market expects, into what asset might you allocate more funds?

Which of the following is NOT one of the "five C's" of credit used by bankers?

In Miller's 1977 article 'Debt and Taxes', he argues that interest tax shields are likely to benefit who? Note that this 1977 article is contrary to his past research findings with Modigliani (1958), modern textbooks and common practice by valuers.

Miller (1977) concludes that the benefits of interest tax shields are likely to benefit:

Read the below quote for background, or skip it to answer the question immediately.

In his 31 August 2021 article 'The rich get richer and rates get lower', Robert Armstrong states that:

"Atif Mian, Ludwig Straub and Amir Sufi agree with partisans of the demographic view, such as the economists Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan, that a key contributor to falling rates is higher savings.

Mian, Straub and Sufi disagree, however, about why there are ever more savings sloshing around. It is not because the huge baby-boom generation is getting older and saving more (a trend that will change direction soon, when they are all retired). Rather, it’s because a larger and larger slice of national income is going to the top decile of earners. Because a person can only consume so much, the wealthy few tend to save much of this income rather than spend it. This pushes rates down directly, when those savings are invested, driving asset prices up and yields down; and indirectly, by sapping aggregate demand.

Why doesn’t all the cash that the rich push into markets get converted, ultimately, into productive investment, either at home or abroad? Tricky question. For present purposes it is enough to note that this is not happening — the savings of the American rich reappear, instead, as debt, owed by the government or by lower-income US households. (In another paper, MS&S have pointed out that this means the high share of income going to the rich hurts aggregate demand in two ways: the rich have a lower marginal propensity to consume, and governments and the non-rich are forced to shift dollars from consumption to debt service. Economically speaking, high inequality is a real buzzkill.)

MS&S prefer the inequality explanation for two reasons. Using data from the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances (which goes back to 1950) they show that differences in savings rates are much greater within any given age cohort than across age cohorts. That is, savings are building up faster because the rich are getting richer, not because the baby boomers are getting older."

Which of the following statements about this quote is NOT correct?

An asset price suddenly increased by 10%. Multiplication by which of the following leverage ratios will give the proportional increase in equity or net wealth?

Over a short time period the equity capital return will equal the asset capital return multiplied by the:

Which of the following formulas for 'contributed equity' from the balance sheet is correct? Assume that now is time 1 and last year is time 0. Assume that book equity consists of contributed equity, retained profits and reserves only (BookEquity = ContributedEquity + RetainedProfits + Reserves).

Here is a table from Canaccord's 'sum of the parts' valuation of INCR.

Note that the firm INCR is unlevered (interest bearing debt = 0).

The third column from the left is labelled 'Value (US$ MM)'. For the 'Israel' and 'EU Export' opportunities, these values are most likely to be:

The implantable hearing device company Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) announced a 40% franked cash dividend of $1.45 per share on 19 Aug 2022. Cochlear's Australian corporate tax rate is 30%.

Which of the below statements about this dividend is NOT correct? All figures are rounded to 6 decimal places. The $1.45 dividend corresponds to:

Below is a screenshot from ASIC’s MoneySmart future value compound interest calculator website.

It shows that $1,000 invested in a bank account at 5% pa compounding monthly for 10 years will be worth $1,647, rounded to the nearest dollar.

Which of the following formulas replicates this result?

Below is a screenshot from ASIC’s MoneySmart future value compound interest calculator website.

It shows that $20 invested (or deposited) into a bank account at the end of every month for 10 years at 5% pa compounding monthly will be worth $3,106 at the end of the 10 years, rounded to the nearest dollar.

Which of the following formulas replicates this result?

Your 18 year old friend is considering what to do with their working life until they retire at age 65. They've sought your advice.

For simplicity, ignore taxes and assume that wages will be paid annually in arrears and will be constant (zero growth). The abbreviation 'k' (Greek kilo) means thousands, so 1k is 1000.

Let the present be time zero (t=0) and the year that you retire be time 47 (t=47).

Your friend is deciding between working as a:

• Builder's apprentice for 2 years earning $20k pa (2 payments from t=1 to t=2 inclusive), then beginning work as a builder for $90k pa (45 annual payments from t=3 to 47 inclusive);
• Retail shop salesperson for $50k pa (47 payments from t=1 to t=47 inclusive).

You estimate that the required return is 5% pa with either career, and that they're equally risky. The cashflows are shown below:

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? Comparing the two alternatives, being a builder compared to a retail salesperson, the:

Your 18 year old friend is considering what to do with their working life until they retire at age 65. They've sought your advice.

For simplicity, ignore taxes and assume that wages will be paid annually in arrears and will be constant (zero growth). The abbreviation 'k' (Greek kilo) means thousands, so 1k is 1000.

Let the present be time zero (t=0) and the year of retirement is time 47 (t=47).

Your friend is deciding between:

• Studying at university for 3 years, costing $30k at the start of each year (3 cash outflows at t=0, 1 & 2), then beginning work as a financial planner for $100k pa (44 annual payments from t=4 to 47 inclusive);
• Working as a builder's apprentice for 2 years, earning $20k pa (2 cash inflows at t=1 and t=2), then beginning work as a builder for $90k pa (45 annual payments from t=3 to 47 inclusive);

You estimate that the required return is 5% pa with either career, and that they're equally risky. The cashflows are shown below:

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? Comparing the two alternatives, being a financial planner compared to a builder, the:

Read the below excerpt of AFR journalist Vesna Poljak's article 'What’s a start-up really worth' from 24 November 2020:

If Charlie Munger is right that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are “bullshit earnings”, and presenting adjusted EBITDA is “basic intellectual dishonesty”, someone should ask the 96-year-old Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman what he thinks of revenue multiples.

It’s a necessary evil of this bull market that so many companies are now valued on multiples of their sales, as opposed to profits, typically because they don’t have any of the latter. It’s also impossible to ignore that real money investors are backing businesses at “multi-unicorn” valuations, meaning that capital is being allocated on an assumption lying somewhere between a considered ability to correctly recognise future growth, and magical thinking.

The idea is that, eventually, these businesses will arrive at a point where their constant reinvestment in sales and marketing, customer acquisition, and systems and process (all items that appear below the revenue line) will no longer be necessary, thereby allowing profits to suddenly crystallise.

Our baby unicorn is now a cloud-based workhorse with stunning margins, low operational costs, a market-dominant position and loyal customers totally insensitive to price increases.

Forecasts and evangelical founders are the natural enemies of a sound mind. “These businesses are very different compared to the typical mature business,” says PwC partner Richard Stewart. “They’re very heavily intangible-asset focused so traditional accounting doesn’t describe the performance of the business well.

“They’re also very risk intensive: it’s a bit like they’re climbing Everest, they’ve got halfway and there’s still a long way to the summit. The start-up sees how far they’ve come from base camp, the investor sees how far they have to go.”

EY partner Michael Fenech said that once upon a time, revenue multiples were used to value companies in very limited circumstances. “Now, revenue multiples have emerged as one of the primary valuation methodologies that people are using, which concerns people like myself.”

A robust valuation should be underpinned, wherever possible, by cash-flow forecasts, Fenech says. “So if we see companies relying on revenue multiples, our level of scepticism is often heightened and we start asking other questions.”

Which of the below statements is NOT correct?

Adam Schwab wrote an article titled 'Why Atlassian is one of the world’s most overvalued businesses' on 15 August 2022. He stated that:

Atlassian is one of the world’s most overvalued businesses by almost any metric. Even though it loses money, Atlassian trades on a multiple of price to sales of a comical 25 times. Stern did a comparison of price-sales multiples in January 2022, noting that the multiple for the entire market was 2.88 and for software (this was before the bubble popped) was 16 times (Schwab, 2022)

Which of the following explanations is NOT correct? Atlassian's stock may be fairly priced if investors beleive that its expected future:

Which of the following quantities from the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing formula gives the risk-neutral probability that a European call option will be exercised?

An established mining firm announces that it expects large losses over the following year due to flooding which has temporarily stalled production at its mines. Which statement(s) are correct?

(i) If the firm adheres to a full dividend payout policy it will not pay any dividends over the following year.

(ii) If the firm wants to signal that the loss is temporary it will maintain the same level of dividends. It can do this so long as it has enough retained profits.

(iii) By law, the firm will be unable to pay a dividend over the following year because it cannot pay a dividend when it makes a loss.

Select the most correct response:

Two companies BigDiv and ZeroDiv are exactly the same except for their dividend payouts.

BigDiv pays large dividends and ZeroDiv doesn't pay any dividends.

Currently the two firms have the same earnings, assets, number of shares, share price, expected total return and risk.

Assume a perfect world with no taxes, no transaction costs, no asymmetric information and that all assets including business projects are fairly priced and therefore zero-NPV.

All things remaining equal, which of the following statements is NOT correct?

Which of the following statements about dividend re-investment plans (DRP's) is NOT correct?

A company conducts a 2 for 3 rights issue at a subscription price of $8 when the pre-announcement stock price was $9. Assume that all investors use their rights to buy those extra shares.

What is the percentage increase in the stock price and the number of shares outstanding? The answers are given in the same order.

A firm wishes to raise $100 million now. The firm's current market value of equity is $300m and the market price per share is $5. They estimate that they'll be able to issue shares in a rights issue at a subscription price of $4. All answers are rounded to 6 decimal places. Ignore the time value of money and assume that all shareholders exercise their rights. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

Which one of the following capital raisings or payouts involve the sale of shares to existing shareholders only?

A firm wishes to raise $30 million now. The firm's current market value of equity is $60m and the market price per share is $20. They estimate that they'll be able to issue shares in a rights issue at a subscription price of $15. Ignore the time value of money and assume that all shareholders exercise their rights. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

What creates interest tax shields for a company?

Last year, two friends Gear and Nogear invested in residential apartments. Each invested $1 million of their own money (their net wealth).

Apartments cost $1,000,000 last year and they earned net rents of $30,000 pa over the last year. Net rents are calculated as rent revenues less the costs of renting such as property maintenance, land tax and council rates. However, interest expense and personal income taxes are not deducted from net rents.

Gear and Nogear funded their purchases in different ways:

• Gear used $1,000,000 of her own money and borrowed $4,000,000 from the bank in the form of an interest-only loan with an interest rate of 5% pa to buy 5 apartments.
• Nogear used $1,000,000 of his own money to buy one apartment. He has no mortgage loan on his property.

Both Gear and Nogear also work in high-paying jobs and are subject personal marginal tax rates of 45%.

Which of the below statements about the past year is NOT correct?

A company issues a large amount of bonds to raise money for new projects of similar risk to the company's existing projects. The net present value (NPV) of the new projects is positive but small. Assume a classical tax system. Which statement is NOT correct?

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 firm has a debt-to-assets ratio of 50%. The firm then issues a large amount of equity to raise money for new projects of similar systematic risk to the company's existing projects. Assume a classical tax system. Which statement is correct?

A firm changes its capital structure by issuing a large amount of debt and using the funds to repurchase shares. Its assets are unchanged. Ignore interest tax shields.

According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), which statement is correct?

A firm changes its capital structure by issuing a large amount of equity and using the funds to repay debt. Its assets are unchanged. Ignore interest tax shields.

According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), which statement is correct?

Assume that there exists a perfect world with no transaction costs, no asymmetric information, no taxes, no agency costs, equal borrowing rates for corporations and individual investors, the ability to short the risk free asset, semi-strong form efficient markets, the CAPM holds, investors are rational and risk-averse and there are no other market frictions.

For a firm operating in this perfect world, which statement(s) are correct?

(i) When a firm changes its capital structure and/or payout policy, share holders' wealth is unaffected.

(ii) When the idiosyncratic risk of a firm's assets increases, share holders do not expect higher returns.

(iii) When the systematic risk of a firm's assets increases, share holders do not expect higher returns.

Select the most correct response: