Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: Which of the following statements is most correct?
Answer Options:
a. Retained earnings, as reported on the balance sheet, represents the amount of cash a company has available to pay out as dividends to shareholders.
b. 70% of the interest received by corporations is excluded from taxable income.
c. 70% of the dividends received by corporations is excluded from taxable income.
d. Because taxes on long-term capital gains are not paid until the gain is realized, investors must pay the top individual tax rate on that gain.
e. The corporate tax system favors equity financing, as dividends paid are deductible from corporate taxes.
Answer: c
Question: The retained earnings account on the balance sheet does not represent cash. Rather, it represents part of the stockholders’ claims against the firm’s existing assets. Put another way retained earnings are stockholders’ reinvested earnings.
Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: True
Question: If expectations for long-term inflation rose, but the slope of the SML remained constant, this would have a greater impact on the required rate of return on equity, rs, than on the interest rate on long-term debt, rd, for most firms. Therefore, the percentage point increase in the cost of equity would be greater than the increase in the interest rate on long-term debt.
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: Projected free cash flows should be discounted at the firm’s weighted average cost of capital to find the firm’s total corporate value.
Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: a. True
Question: Its retained earnings is the actual cash that the firm has generated through operations less the cash that has been paid out to stockholders as dividends. If the firm has sufficient retained earnings, it can purchase assets and pay for them with cash from retained earnings.
Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: False
Question: It has been argued that investors prefer high-payout companies because dividends are more certain (less risky) than the capital gains that are supposed to come from retained earnings. However, Miller and Modigliani say that this argument is incorrect, and they call it the “bird-in-the-hand fallacy.” MM base their argument on the belief that most dividends are reinvested in stocks, hence are exposed to the same risks as reinvested earnings.
Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: The lower the firm’s tax rate, the lower will be its after-tax cost of debt and also its WACC, other things held constant.
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: The text identifies three methods for estimating the cost of common stock from retained earnings: the CAPM method, the DCF method, and the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium method. However, only the CAPM method always provides an accurate and reliable estimate.
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: The firm’s cost of external equity raised by issuing new stock is the same as the required rate of return on the firm’s outstanding common stock.
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: The text identifies three methods for estimating the cost of common stock from retained earnings: the CAPM method, the DCF method, and the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium method. Since we cannot be sure that the estimate obtained with any of these methods is correct, it is often appropriate to use all three methods, then consider all three estimates, and end up using a judgmental estimate when calculating the WACC.
a. True
b. False
Answer: a. True
Question: Its retained earnings is the actual cash that the firm has generated through operations less the cash that has been paid out to stockholders as dividends. If the firm has sufficient retained earnings, it can purchase assets and pay for them with cash from retained earnings.
Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: Some investors prefer dividends to retained earnings (and the capital gains retained earnings bring), while others prefer retained earnings to dividends. Other things held constant, it makes sense for a company to establish its dividend policy and stick to it, and then it will attract a clientele of investors who like that policy.
Answer Options:
a. True
b. False
Answer: a. True
Question: Other things held constant, which of the following will cause an increase in net working capital?
a. Cash is used to buy marketable securities.
b. A cash dividend is declared and paid.
c. Merchandise is sold at a profit, but the sale is on credit.
d. Long-term bonds are retired with the proceeds of a preferred stock issue.
e. Missing inventory is written off against retained earnings.
Answer Options:
a. Cash is used to buy marketable securities.
b. A cash dividend is declared and paid.
c. Merchandise is sold at a profit, but the sale is on credit.
d. Long-term bonds are retired with the proceeds of a preferred stock issue.
e. Missing inventory is written off against retained earnings.
Answer: c