Question: Executive salaries have been shown to be

> What is the financial cycle?

> You are a shareholder in a C corporation. The corporation earns $2.00 per share before taxes. Once it has paid taxes it will distribute the rest of its earnings to you as a dividend. Assume the corporate tax rate is 40% and the personal tax rate on (both

> What are some of the differences between the NYSE and NASDAQ?

> Suppose the interest on Russian government bonds is 7.5%, and the current exchange rate is 28 rubles per dollar. If the forward exchange rate is 28.5 rubles per dollar, and the current U.S. risk-free interest rate is 4.5%, what is the implied credit spre

> Peripatetic Enterprises, a U.S. import-export trading firm, is considering its international tax situation. Tax law in the Unites States requires U.S. corporations to pay taxes on their foreign earnings at the same rate as profits earned in the United St

> You have just received a windfall from an investment you made in a friend’s business. She will be paying you $10,000 at the end of this year, $20,000 at the end of the following year, and $30,000 at the end of the year after that (three years from today)

> Halliford Corporation expects to have earnings this coming year of $3 per share. Halliford plans to retain all of its earnings for the next two years. Then, for the subsequent two years, the firm will retain 50% of its earnings. It will retain 20% of its

> Krell Industries has a share price of $22.00 today. If Krell is expected to pay a dividend of $0.88 this year and its stock price is expected to grow to $23.54 at the end of the year, what is Krell’s dividend yield and equity cost of capital?

> Lamar Lumber buys $8 million of materials (net of discounts) on terms of 3/5, net 60; and it currently pays after 5 days and takes discounts. Lamar plans to expand, which will require additional financing. If Lamar decides to forgo discounts, how much ad

> Jackson Trucking Company is in the process of setting its target capital structure. The CFO believes that the optimal debt ratio is somewhere between 20% and 50%, and her staff has compiled the following projections for EPS and the stock price at various

> Why some trade credit is called free while other credit is called costly? If a firm buys on terms of 2/10, net 30, pays at the end of the 30th day, and typically shows $300,000 of accounts payable on its balance sheet, would the entire $300,000 be free c

> Which of the following would likely encourage a firm to increase the debt in its capital structure? a. The corporate tax rate increases. b. The personal tax rate increases. c. Due to market changes, the firm’s assets become less liquid. d. Changes in the

> The Weaver Watch Company sells watches for $25, the fixed costs are $140,000, and variable costs are $15 per watch. a. What is the firm’s gain or loss at sales of 8,000 watches? at 18,000 watches? b. What is the breakeven point? Illustrate by means of a

> Prestopino Corporation produces motorcycle batteries. Prestopino turns out 1,500 batteries a day at a cost of $6 per battery for materials and labor. It takes the firm 22 days to convert raw materials into a battery. Prestopino allows its customers 40 da

> Is the debt level that maximizes a firm’s expected EPS the same as the debt level that maximizes its stock price? Explain.

> Why are accruals called spontaneous sources of funds, what are their costs, and why don’t firms use more of them?

> Robert Black and Carol Alvarez are vice presidents of Western Money Management and Co directors of the company’s pension fund management division. A major new client, the California League of Cities, has requested that Western present an investment semin

> What is a cash budget, and how can this statement be used to help reduce the amount of cash that a firm needs to carry? What are the advantages and disadvantages of daily over monthly cash budgets, and how might a cash budget be used when a firm is negot

> If a company’s beta were to double, would its required return also double?

> Suppose the population of Area Y is relatively young and the population of Area O is relatively old but everything else about the two areas is the same. a. Would interest rates likely be the same or different in the two areas? Explain. b. Would a trend t

> The Bush Oil Company is deciding whether to drill for oil on a tract of land that the company owns. The company estimates that the project will cost $8 million today. Bush estimates that once drilled, the oil will generate positive net cash flows of $4 m

> Why is EBIT generally considered independent of financial leverage? Why might EBIT actually be affected by financial leverage at high debt levels?

> A firm is considering two mutually exclusive projects, X and Y, with the following cash flows: The projects are equally risky, and their WACC is 12%. What is the MIRR of the project that maximizes shareholder value? 1 2 3 Project X Project Y -$1,000

> The following table gives Foust Company’s earnings per share for the last 10 years. The common stock, 7.8 million shares outstanding, is now (1/1/09) selling for $65.00 per share. The expected dividend at the end of the current year (1

> Define each of the following loan terms and explain how they are related to one another: the prime rate, the rate on commercial paper, the simple interest rate on a bank loan calling for interest to be paid monthly, and the rate on an installment loan ba

> Why do public utilities generally use different capital structures than pharmaceutical companies?

> Bartman Industries’ and Reynolds Inc.’s stock prices and dividends, along with the Winslow 5000 Index, are shown here for the period 2003–2008. The Winslow 5000 data are adjusted to include dividends.

> Beta Industries has net income of $2,000,000, and it has 1,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding. The company’s stock currently trades at $32 a share. Beta is considering a plan in which it will use available cash to repurchase 20% of its shares in

> A life insurance policy is a financial asset, with the premiums paid representing the investment’s cost. a. How would you calculate the expected return on a 1-year life insurance policy? b. Suppose the owner of a life insurance policy has no other financ

> Hardin-Gehr Corporation (HGC) began operations 5 years ago as a small firm serving customers in the Detroit area. However, its reputation and market area grew quickly. Today HGC has customers all over the United States. Despite its broad customer base, H

> Currently, Bloom Flowers Inc. has a capital structure consisting of 20% debt and 80% equity. Bloom’s debt currently has an 8% yield to maturity. The risk-free rate (rRF) is 5%, and the market risk premium (rM – rRF) is 6%. Using the CAPM, Bloom estimates

> In 2008, Keenan Company paid dividends totaling $3,600,000 on net income of $10.8 million. Note that 2008 was a normal year and that for the past 10 years, earnings have grown at a constant rate of 10%. However, in 2009, earnings are expected to jump to

> Stocks X and Y have the following probability distributions of expected future returns: a. Calculate the expected rate of return, ^rY, for Stock Y (^rX ¼ 12%). b. Calculate the standard deviation of expected returns, X, for Stock X (Y &Ac

> The Neal Company wants to estimate next year’s return on equity (ROE) under different leverage ratios. Neal’s total assets are $14 million, it currently uses only common equity, and its federal-plus-state tax rate is 4

> What does it mean to adopt a maturity matching approach to financing assets, including current assets? How would a more aggressive or a more conservative approach differ from the maturity matching approach, and how would each affect expected profits and

> a. Given the following information, calculate the expected value for Firm C’s EPS. Data for Firms A and B are as follows: E(EPSA) = $5.10, and δA = $3.61; E(EPSB) = $4.20, and δB = $2.96. b. You are given that

> If you buy a callable bond and interest rates decline, will the value of your bond rise by as much as it would have risen if the bond had not been callable? Explain.

> Assume that the risk-free rate increases. What impact would this have on the cost of debt? What impact would it have on the cost of equity?

> Lloyd Corporation’s 14% coupon rate, semiannual payment, $1,000 par value bonds, which mature in 30 years, are callable 5 years from today at $1,050. They sell at a price of $1,353.54, and the yield curve is flat. Assume that interest rates are expected

> Would each of the following increase, decrease, or have an indeterminant effect on a firm’s breakeven point (unit sales)? a. The sales price increases with no change in unit costs. b. An increase in fixed costs is accompanied by a decrease in variable co

> Cyclone Software Co. is trying to establish its optimal capital structure. Its current capital structure consists of 25% debt and 75% equity; however, the CEO believes that the firm should use more debt. The risk-free rate, rRF, is 5%; the market risk pr

> If interest rates rise after a bond issue, what will happen to the bond’s price and YTM? Does the time to maturity affect the extent to which interest rate changes affect the bond’s price?

> Consider the following information for three stocks, Stocks X, Y, and Z. The returns on the three stocks are positively correlated, but they are not perfectly correlated. (That is, each of the correlation coefficients is between 0 and 1.) Fund Q has on

> Rentz Corporation is investigating the optimal level of current assets for the coming year. Management expects sales to increase to approximately $2 million as a result of an asset expansion presently being undertaken. Fixed assets total $1 million, and

> Bradford Manufacturing Company has a beta of 1.45, while Farley Industries has a beta of 0.85. The required return on an index fund that holds the entire stock market is 12.0%. The risk-free rate of interest is 5%. By how much does Bradford’s required re

> The values of outstanding bonds change whenever the going rate of interest changes. In general, short-term interest rates are more volatile than long-term interest rates. Therefore, short-term bond prices are more sensitive to interest rate changes than

> Indicate using a (+), (-), or (0) whether each of the following events would probably cause accounts receivable (A/R), sales, and profits to increase, decrease, or be affected in an indeterminate manner: A/R Sales Profits The firm tightens its credit

> A sinking fund can be set up in one of two ways: a. The corporation makes annual payments to the trustee, who invests the proceeds in securities (frequently government bonds) and uses the accumulated total to retire the bond issue at maturity. b. The tru

> A bond’s expected return is sometimes estimated by its YTM and sometimes by its YTC. Under what conditions would the YTM provide a better estimate, and when would the YTC be better?

> What are some pros and cons of holding high levels of current assets in relation to sales? Use the DuPont equation to help explain your answer.

> If Congress increased the personal tax rate on interest, dividends, and capital gains but simultaneously reduced the rate on corporate income, what effect would this have on the average company’s capital structure?

> Krogh Lumber’s 2008 financial statements are shown here. a. Assume that the company was operating at full capacity in 2008 with regard to all items except fixed assets; fixed assets in 2008 were being utilized to only 75% of capacity.

> Morrissey Technologies Inc.’s 2008 financial statements are shown here. Suppose that in 2009, sales increase by 10% over 2008 sales. The firm currently has 100,000 shares outstanding. It expects to maintain its 2008 dividend payout ra

> A stock is expected to pay a dividend of $0.50 at the end of the year (that is, D1 = 0.50), and it should continue to grow at a constant rate of 7% a year. If its required return is 12%, what is the stock’s expected price 4 years from today?

> It is now January 1, 2009, and you are considering the purchase of an outstanding bond that was issued on January 1, 2007. It has a 9.5% annual coupon and had a 30-year original maturity. (It matures on December 31, 2036.) There is 5 years of call protec

> Would the yield spread on a corporate bond over a Treasury bond with the same maturity tend to become wider or narrower if the economy appeared to be heading toward a recession? Would the change in the spread for a given company be affected by the firm’s

> Christie Corporation is trying to determine the effect of its inventory turnover ratio and days sales outstanding (DSO) on its cash flow cycle. Christie’s 2008 sales (all on credit) were $150,000; and it earned a net profit of 6%, or $9,000. It turned ov

> Mitts Cosmetics Co.’s stock price is $58.88, and it recently paid a $2.00 dividend. This dividend is expected to grow by 25% for the next 3 years, then grow forever at a constant rate, g; and rs = 12%. At what constant rate is the stock expected to grow

> Edney Manufacturing Company has $2 billion in sales and $0.6 billion in fixed assets. Currently, the company’s fixed assets are operating at 80% of capacity. a. What level of sales could Edney have obtained if it had been operating at full capacity? b. W

> One position expressed in the financial literature is that firms set their dividends as a residual after using income to support new investment. a. Explain what a residual dividend policy implies, illustrating your answer with a table showing how differe

> Discuss the following statement: All else equal, firms with relatively stable sales are able to carry relatively high debt ratios. Is the statement true or false? Why?

> Barrett Industries invests a large sum of money in R&D; as a result, it retains and reinvests all of its earnings. In other words, Barrett does not pay any dividends and it has no plans to pay dividends in the near future. A major pension fund is interes

> Most firms like to have their stock selling at a high P/E ratio, and they also like to have extensive public ownership (many different shareholders). Explain how stock dividends or stock splits may help achieve those goals.

> An 8% semiannual coupon bond matures in 5 years. The bond has a face value of $1,000 and a current yield of 8.21%. What are the bond’s price and YTM?

> a. Rework Problem 18-4 using the spreadsheet model. Data from Problem 18-4 Assume that you have been given the following information on Purcell Industries: Using the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model, what is the value of the option? b. Construct dat

> Stocks A and B have the following historical returns: a. Calculate the average rate of return for each stock during the period 2004 through 2008. b. Assume that someone held a portfolio consisting of 50% of Stock A and 50% of Stock B. What would the re

> Rubenstein Bros. Clothing is expecting to pay an annual dividend per share of $0.75 out of annual earnings per share of $2.25. Currently, Rubenstein Bros.’ stock is selling for $12.50 per share. Adhering to the company’s target capital structure, the fir

> Are securities that provide for a sinking fund more or less risky from the bondholder’s perspective than those without this type of provision? Explain.

> An investor has two bonds in his portfolio that have a face value of $1,000 and pay a 10% annual coupon. Bond L matures in 15 years, while Bond S matures in 1 year. a. What will the value of each bond be if the going interest rate is 5%, 8%, and 12%? As

> Pierce Furnishings generated $2 million in sales during 2008, and its year-end total assets were $1.5 million. Also, at year-end 2008, current liabilities were $500,000, consisting of $200,000 of notes payable, $200,000 of accounts payable, and $100,000

> At year-end 2008, total assets for Ambrose Inc. were $1.2 million and accounts payable were $375,000. Sales, which in 2008 were $2.5 million, are expected to increase by 25% in 2009. Total assets and accounts payable are proportional to sales, and that r

> A firm’s bonds have a maturity of 10 years with a $1,000 face value, have an 8% semiannual coupon, are callable in 5 years at $1,050, and currently sell at a price of $1,100. What are their nominal yield to maturity and their nominal yield to call? What

> What are the two definitions of cash, and why do corporate treasurers often use the second definition?

> The following yields on U.S. Treasury securities were taken from a recent financial publication: Term Rate 6 months………………….5.1% 1 year……………………….5.5% 2 year……………………….5.6% 3 year……………………….5.7% 4 year……………………….5.8% 5 year………………

> How would each of the following changes tend to affect aggregate (that is, the average for all corporations) payout ratios, other things held constant? Explain your answers. a. An increase in the personal income tax rate b. A liberalization of depreciati

> What is the difference between a stock dividend and a stock split? As a stockholder, would you prefer to see your company declare a 100% stock dividend or a two-for-one split? Assume that either action is feasible.

> Would it ever be rational for a firm to borrow money in order to pay dividends? Explain.

> Sue Wilson, the new financial manager of New World Chemicals (NWC), a California producer of specialized chemicals for use in fruit orchards, must prepare a formal financial forecast for 2009. NWC’s 2008 sales were $2 billion, and the m

> Suppose you owned a portfolio consisting of $250,000 of long-term U.S. government bonds. a. Would your portfolio be riskless? Explain. b. Now suppose the portfolio consists of $250,000 of 30-day Treasury bills. Every 30 days your bills mature, and you wi

> Explain whether the following statement is true or false: Only weak companies issue debentures.

> Why are convertibles and bonds with warrants typically offered with lower coupons than similarly rated straight bonds?

> Use a spreadsheet model to forecast the financial statements in Problems 17-13 and 17-14. Data from Problem 17-13 Morrissey Technologies Inc.’s 2008 financial statements are shown here. Suppose that in 2009, sales increase by 10% ove

> What are the four key factors in a firm’s credit policy? How would an easy policy differ from a tight policy? Give examples of how the four factors might differ between the two policies. How would the easy versus the tight policy affect sales? Profits?

> How would each of the following scenarios affect a firm’s cost of debt, rd(1 – T); its cost of equity, rs; and its WACC? Indicate with a plus (+), a minus (–), or a zero (0) if the factor would raise,

> Six years ago the Singleton Company issued 20-year bonds with a 14% annual coupon rate at their $1,000 par value. The bonds had a 9% call premium, with 5 years of call protection. Today Singleton called the bonds. Compute the realized rate of return for

> Stock X has a 10% expected return, a beta coefficient of 0.9, and a 35% standard deviation of expected returns. Stock Y has a 12.5% expected return, a beta coefficient of 1.2, and a 25% standard deviation. The risk-free rate is 6%, and the market risk pr

> Define cash conversion cycle (CCC) and explain why, holding other things constant, a firm’s profitability would increase if it lowered its CCC.

> You are considering an investment in Keller Corp’s stock, which is expected to pay a dividend of $2.00 a share at the end of the year (D1 = $2.00) and has a beta of 0.9. The risk-free rate is 5.6%, and the market risk premium is 6%. Keller currently sell

> Lamar Lumber Company has sales of $10 million per year, all on credit terms calling for payment within 30 days; and its accounts receivable are $2 million. What is Lamar’s DSO, what would it be if all customers paid on time, and how much capital would be

> Investors require a 15% rate of return on Levine Company’s stock (that is, rs = 15%). a. What is its value if the previous dividend was D0 = $2 and investors expect dividends to grow at a constant annual rate of (1) –5%, (2) 0%, (3) 5%, or (4) 10%? b. Us

> The future earnings, dividends, and common stock price of Carpetto Technologies Inc. are expected to grow 7% per year. Carpetto’s common stock currently sells for $23.00 per share; its last dividend was $2.00; and it will pay a $2.14 dividend at the end

> Taussig Technologies Corporation (TTC) has been growing at a rate of 20% per year in recent years. This same growth rate is expected to last for another 2 years, then decline to gn = 6%. a. If D0 = $1.60 and rs = 10%, what is TTC’s stock worth today? Wh

> In Chapter 7, we saw that if the market interest rate, rd, for a given bond increased, the price of the bond would decline. Applying this same logic to stocks, explain (a) How a decrease in risk aversion would affect stocks’ prices and earned rates of re

> Hooper Printing Inc. has bonds outstanding with 9 years left to maturity. The bonds have an 8% annual coupon rate and were issued 1 year ago at their par value of $1,000. However, due to changes in interest rates, the bond’s market price has fallen to $9

> HR Industries (HRI) has a beta of 1.8, while LR Industries’ (LRI) beta is 0.6. The risk-free rate is 6%, and the required rate of return on an average stock is 13%. The expected rate of inflation built into rRF falls by 1.5 percentage points, the real ri

> Martin Development Co. is deciding whether to proceed with Project X. The cost would be $9 million in Year 0. There is a 50% chance that X would be hugely successful and would generate annual after-tax cash flows of $6 million per year during Years 1, 2,

> Clifford Clark is a recent retiree who is interested in investing some of his savings in corporate bonds. His financial planner has suggested the following bonds: ●Bond A has a 7% annual coupon, matures in 12 years, and has a $1,000 face value. ● Bond B

> Firms HL and LL are identical except for their leverage ratios and the interest rates they pay on debt. Each has $20 million in assets, has $4 million of EBIT, and is in the 40% federal-plus-state tax bracket. Firm HL, however, has a debt ratio (D/A) of

> Bowles Sporting Inc. is prepared to report the following income statement (shown in thousands of dollars) for the year 2009. Prior to reporting this income statement, the company wants to determine its annual dividend. The company has 500,000 shares of

> Southeastern Steel Company (SSC) was formed 5 years ago to exploit a new continuous casting process. SSC’s founders, Donald Brown and Margo Valencia, had been employed in the research department of a major integrated-steel company; but when that company