Answer Options
a. The market risk premium (RPM).
b. The beta coefficient, bi, of a relatively safe stock.
c. The most appropriate risk-free rate, RRF.
d. The expected rate of return on the market, rM.
e. The beta coefficient of “the market,” which is the same as the beta of an average stock.
Answer: e
Question: When estimating the cost of equity by use of the DCF method, the single biggest potential problem is to determine the growth rate that investors use when they estimate a stock’s expected future rate of return. This problem leaves us unsure of the true value of rs.
Answer Options
a. True
b. False
Answer: True
Question: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
Answer Options
a. Since the costs of internal and external equity are related, an increase in the flotation cost required to sell a new issue of stock will increase the cost of retained earnings.
b. Since its stockholders are not directly responsible for paying a corporation’s income taxes, corporations should focus on before-tax cash flows when calculating the WACC.
c. An increase in a firm’s tax rate will increase the component cost of debt, provided the YTM on the firm’s bonds is not affected by the change in the tax rate.
d. When the WACC is calculated, it should reflect the costs of new common stock, retained earnings, preferred stock, long-term debt, short-term bank loans if the firm normally finances with bank debt, and accounts payable if the firm normally has accounts payable on its balance sheet.
e. If a firm has been suffering accounting losses that are expected to continue into the foreseeable future, and therefore its tax rate is zero, then it is possible for the after-tax cost of preferred stock to be less than the after-tax cost of debt.
Answer: e
Question: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
Answer Options
a. Although some methods used to estimate the cost of equity are subject to severe limitations, the CAPM is a model that is free of any such problems.
Answer: a
Question: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
Answer Options
a. A change in a company’s target capital structure cannot affect its WACC.
b. WACC calculations should be based on the before-tax costs of all the individual capital components.
c. Flotation costs associated with issuing new common stock normally reduce the WACC.
d. If a company’s tax rate increases, then, all else equal, its weighted average cost of capital will decline.
e. An increase in the risk-free rate will normally lower the marginal costs of both debt and equity financing.
Answer: d
Question: The before-tax cost of debt, which is lower than the after-tax cost, is used as the component cost of debt for purposes of developing the firm’s WACC.
Answer Options
a. True
b. False
Answer: b. False
Question: The MacMillen Company has equal amounts of low-risk, average-risk, and high-risk projects. The firm’s overall WACC is 12%. The CFO believes that this is the correct WACC for the company’s average-risk projects, but that a lower rate should be used for lower-risk projects and a higher rate for higher-risk projects. The CEO disagrees, on the grounds that even though projects have different risks, the WACC used to evaluate each project should be the same because the company obtains capital for all projects from the same sources. If the CEO’s position is accepted, what is likely to happen over time?
Answer Options
a. The company will take on too many high-risk projects and reject too many low-risk projects.
b. The company will take on too many low-risk projects and reject too many high-risk projects.
c. Things will generally even out over time, and, therefore, the firm’s risk should remain constant over time.
d. The company’s overall WACC should decrease over time because its stock price should be increasing.
e. The CEO’s recommendation would maximize the firm’s intrinsic value.
Answer: a
Question: The cost of equity raised by retaining earnings can be less than, equal to, or greater than the cost of external equity raised by selling new issues of common stock, depending on tax rates, flotation costs, the attitude of investors, and other factors.
Answer Options
a. True
b. False
Answer: True
Question: Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
Answer Options
a. The WACC is calculated using before-tax costs for all components.
b. The after-tax cost of debt usually exceeds the after-tax cost of equity.
c. For a given firm, the after-tax cost of debt is always more expensive than the after-tax cost of non-convertible preferred stock.
d. Retained earnings that were generated in the past and are reported on the firm’s balance sheet are available to finance the firm’s capital budget during the coming year.
e. The WACC that should be used in capital budgeting is the firm’s marginal, after-tax cost of capital.
Answer: e
Question: In general, firms should use their weighted average cost of capital (WACC) to evaluate capital budgeting projects because most projects are funded with general corporate funds, which come from a variety of sources. However, if the firm plans to use only debt or only equity to fund a particular project, it should use the after-tax cost of that specific type of capital to evaluate that project.
Answer Options
a. True
b. False
Answer: False
Question: Norris Enterprises, an all-equity firm, has a beta of 2.0. The chief financial officer is evaluating a project with an expected return of 14%, before any risk adjustment. The risk-free rate is 5%, and the market risk premium is 4%. The project being evaluated is riskier than the firm’s average project, in terms of both its beta risk and its total risk. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
Answer Options
a. The project should definitely be accepted because its expected return (before any risk adjustments) is greater than its required return.
b. The project should definitely be rejected because its expected return (before risk adjustment) is less than its required return.
c. Riskier-than-average projects should have their expected returns increased to reflect their higher risk. Clearly, this would make the project acceptable regardless of the amount of the adjustment.
d. The accept/reject decision depends on the firm’s risk-adjustment policy. If Norris’ policy is to increase the required return on a riskier-than-average project to 3% over rs, then it should reject the project.
e. Capital budgeting projects should be evaluated solely on the basis of their total risk. Thus, insufficient information has been provided to make the accept/reject decision.
Answer: d
Question: Which of the following is NOT a capital component when calculating the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for use in capital budgeting?
Answer Options
a. Long-term debt.
b. Accounts payable.
c. Retained earnings.
d. Common stock.
e. Preferred stock.
Answer: b. Accounts payable