Question: Ronald Masulis analyzed the stock price impact

> True or false? Explain briefly. a. Book profitability measures are biased measures of true profitability for individual assets. However, these biases “wash out” when firms hold a balanced mix of old and new assets. b. Systematic biases in book profitabil

> Monitoring alone can never completely eliminate agency costs in capital investment. Briefly explain why.

> Herbal Resources is a small but profitable producer of dietary supplements for pets. This is not a high-tech business, but Herbal’s earnings have averaged around $1.2 million after tax, largely on the strength of its patented enzyme for making cats nonal

> Table 12.5 shows a condensed income statement and balance sheet for Androscoggin Copper’s Rumford smelting plant. a. Calculate the plant’s EVA. Assume the cost of capital is 9%. b. As Table 12.5 shows, the plant is carried on Androscoggin’s books at $48.

> Use the Beyond the Page feature to access the Excel program for calculating the profitability of the Nodhead project. Now suppose that the cash flows from Nodhead’s new supermarket are as follows:
a. Recalculate economic depreciation. Is it accelerate

> Calculate the year-by-year book and economic profitability for investment in polyzone production, as described in Chapter 11. Use the cash flows and competitive spreads shown in Table 11.2, and assume straight-line depreciation over 10 years. What is the

> Here are a few questions about compensation schemes that tie top management’s compensation to the rate of return earned on the company’s common stock. a. Today’s stock price depends on investors’ expectations of future performance. What problems does thi

> We noted that management compensation must in practice rely on results rather than on effort. Why? What problems are introduced by not rewarding effort?

> In our Nodhead example, true depreciation was decelerated. That is not always the case. For instance, Table 12.6 shows how on average the market value of a Boeing 737 has varied with its age26 and the cash flow needed in each year to provide a 10% return

> Consider an asset with the following cash flows:
The firm uses straight-line depreciation. Thus, for this project, it writes off $4 million per year in years 1, 2, and 3. The discount rate is 10%. a. Show that economic depreciation equals book deprec

> Ohio Building Products (OBP) is considering the launch of a new product which would require an initial investment in equipment of $30,800 (no investment in working capital is required). The forecast profits from the product are as follows:
No cash flo

> Use the Beyond the Page feature to access the Excel program for measuring the profitability of the Nodhead project. Reconstruct Table 12.4 assuming a steady-state growth rate of 10% per year. Your answer will illustrate a fascinating theorem, namely, tha

> Define the following: (a) Agency costs in capital investment, (b) private benefits, (c) empire building, (d) entrenching investment, (e) delegated monitoring.

> Taxes are a cost, and, therefore, changes in tax rates can affect consumer prices, project lives, and the value of existing firms. The following problem illustrates this. It also illustrates that tax changes that appear to be “good for business” do not a

> The world airline system is composed of the routes X and Y, each of which requires 10 aircraft. These routes can be serviced by three types of aircraft—A, B, and C. There are 5 type A aircraft available, 10 type B, and 10 type C. These aircraft are ident

> The manufacture of polysyllabic acid is a competitive industry. Most plants have an annual output of 100,000 tons. Operating costs are $.90 a ton, and the sales price is $1 a ton. A 100,000-ton plant costs $100,000 and has an indefinite life. Its current

> Sulphur Ridge Mining is considering the development of a new calonium mine at Moose Bend in northern Alberta. The mine would require an upfront investment of $110 million and would produce 100,000 tons of high-grade calonium a year, which is small compar

> Modify Table 19.1 on the assumption that competition eliminates any opportunities to earn more than WACC on new investment after year 7 (PVGO = 0). How does the valuation of Rio change? Table 19.6 is a simplified book balance sheet for Devon Energy in Se

> Modify Table 19.1 on the assumption that competition eliminates any opportunities to earn more than WACC on new investment after year 7 (PVGO = 0). How does the valuation of Rio change? Table 19.1: Latest Year Forecast 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sales 83.6 89.5 95.

> The WACC formula assumes that debt is rebalanced to maintain a constant debt ratio D/V. Rebalancing ties the level of future interest tax shields to the future value of the company. This makes the tax shields risky. Does that mean that fixed debt levels

> You are asked to value a large building in northern New Jersey. The valuation is needed for a railroad bankruptcy settlement. Here are the facts: a. The settlement requires that the building’s value equal the PV of the net cash proceeds the railroad woul

> In footnote 15 we referred to the Miles–Ezzell discount rate formula, which assumes that debt is not rebalanced continuously, but at one-year intervals. Derive this formula. Then use it to unlever Sangria’s WACC and calculate Sangria’s opportunity cost o

> Chiara Company’s management has made the projections shown in Table 19.5. Use this table as a starting point to value the company as a whole. The WACC for Chiara is 12% and the long-run growth rate after year 5 is 4%. The company has $5

> The Bunsen Chemical Company is currently at its target debt ratio of 40%. It is contemplating a $1 million expansion of its existing business. This expansion is expected to produce a cash inflow of $130,000 a year in perpetuity. The company is uncertain

> Consider a project to produce solar water heaters. It requires a $10 million investment and offers a level after-tax cash flow of $1.75 million per year for 10 years. The opportunity cost of capital is 12%, which reflects the project’s business risk. a.

> Suppose the project described in Problem 17 is to be undertaken by a university. Funds for the project will be withdrawn from the university’s endowment, which is invested in a widely diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. However,

> Consider another perpetual project like the crusher described in Section 19-1. Its initial investment is $1,000,000, and the expected cash inflow is $95,000 a year in perpetuity. The opportunity cost of capital with all-equity financing is 10%, and the p

> Digital Organics (DO) has the opportunity to invest $1 million now (t = 0) and expects after-tax returns of $600,000 in t = 1 and $700,000 in t = 2. The project will last for two years only. The appropriate cost of capital is 12% with all-equity financin

> How will Rensselaer Felt’s WACC and cost of equity change if it issues $50 million in new equity and uses the proceeds to retire long-term debt? Assume the company’s borrowing rates are unchanged. Use the three-step procedure from Section 19-3.

> Table 19.4 shows a simplified balance sheet for Rensselaer Felt. Calculate this company’s weighted-average cost of capital. The debt has just been refinanced at an interest rate of 6% (short term) and 8% (long term). The expected rate of return on the co

> Table 19.3 shows a book balance sheet for the Wishing Well Motel chain. The company’s long-term debt is secured by its real estate assets, but it also uses short-term bank loans as a permanent source of financing. It pays 10% interest on the bank debt an

> The Cambridge Opera Association has come up with a unique door prize for its December 2019 fund-raising ball: Twenty door prizes will be distributed, each one a ticket entitling the bearer to receive a cash award from the association on December 31, 2020

> Suppose KCS Corp. buys out Patagonia Trucking, a privately owned business, for $50 million. KCS has only $5 million cash in hand, so it arranges a $45 million bank loan. A normal debt-to-value ratio for a trucking company would be 50% at most, but the ba

> Suppose Federated Junkyards decides to move to a more conservative debt policy. A year later its debt ratio is down to 15% (D/V = .15). The interest rate has dropped to 8.6%. Recalculate Federated’s WACC under these new assumptions. The company’s busines

> The WACC formula seems to imply that debt is “cheaper” than equity—that is, that a firm with more debt could use a lower discount rate. Does this make sense? Explain briefly.

> Consider a project lasting one year only. The initial outlay is $1,000 and the expected inflow is $1,200. The opportunity cost of capital is r = .20. The borrowing rate is rD = .10, and the tax shield per dollar of interest is Tc = .35. a. What is the pr

> Whispering Pines, Inc., is all-equity-financed. The expected rate of return on the company’s shares is 12%. a. What is the opportunity cost of capital for an average-risk Whispering Pines investment? b. Suppose the company issues debt, repurchases shares

> A project costs $1 million and has a base-case NPV of exactly zero (NPV = 0). What is the project’s APV in the following cases? a. If the firm invests, it has to raise $500,000 by a stock issue. Issue costs are 15% of net proceeds. b. If the firm invests

> True or false? The APV method a. Starts with a base-case value for the project. b. Calculates the base-case value by discounting project cash flows, forecasted assuming all equity financing, at the WACC for the project. c. Is especially useful when debt

> What is meant by the flow-to-equity valuation method? What discount rate is used in this method? What assumptions are necessary for this method to give an accurate valuation?

> True or false? Use of the WACC formula assumes a. A project supports a fixed amount of debt over the project’s economic life. b. The ratio of the debt supported by a project to project value is constant over the project’s economic life. c. The firm rebal

> Calculate the weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) for Federated Junkyards of America, using the following information: Debt: $75,000,000 book value outstanding. The debt is trading at 90% of book value. The yield to maturity is 9%. Equity: 2,500,000

> Photographic laboratories recover and recycle the silver used in photographic film. Stikine River Photo is considering purchase of improved equipment for their laboratory at Telegraph Creek. Here is the information they have: a. The equipment costs $100,

> To finance the Madison County project, Wishing Well needs to arrange an additional $80 million of long-term debt and make a $20 million equity issue. Underwriting fees, spreads, and other costs of this financing will total $4 million. How would you take

> The U.S. government has settled a dispute with your company for $16 million. The government is committed to pay this amount in exactly 12 months. However, your company will have to pay tax on the award at a marginal tax rate of 35%. What is the award wo

> You are considering a five-year lease of office space for R&D personnel. Once signed, the lease cannot be canceled. It would commit your firm to six annual $100,000 payments, with the first payment due immediately. What is the present value of the lease

> Most financial managers measure debt ratios from their companies’ book balance sheets. Many financial economists emphasize ratios from market-value balance sheets. Which is the right measure in principle? Does the trade-off theory propose to explain book

> Some corporations’ debt–equity targets are expressed not as a debt ratio but as a target debt rating on the firm’s outstanding bonds. What are the pros and cons of setting a target rating rather than a target ratio?

> The possible payoffs from Ms. Ketchup’s projects (see Example 18.1) have not changed but there is now a 40% chance that Project 2 will pay off $24 and a 60% chance that it will pay off $0. a. Recalculate the expected payoffs to the bank and Ms. Ketchup i

> “I was amazed to find that the announcement of a stock issue drives down the value of the issuing firm by 30%, on average, of the proceeds of the issue. That issue cost dwarfs the underwriter’s spread and the administrative costs of the issue. It makes c

> he Salad Oil Storage (SOS) Company has financed a large part of its facilities with long-term debt. There is a significant risk of default, but the company is not on the ropes yet. Explain: a. Why SOS stockholders could lose by investing in a positive-NP

> a. Who benefits from the fine print in bond contracts when the firm gets into financial trouble? Give a one-sentence answer. b. Who benefits from the fine print when the bonds are issued? Suppose the firm is offered the choice of issuing (1) a bond with

> Reevaluate the NPV of the proposed polyzone project under each of the following assumptions. What’s the right management decision in each case? a. Spread in year 4 holds at $1.20 per pound. b. The U.S. chemical company can start up polyzone production at

> Let us go back to Circular File’s market value balance sheet:
Who gains and who loses from the following maneuvers? a. Circular scrapes up $5 in cash and pays a cash dividend. b. Circular halts operations, sells its fixed assets, and converts net work

> In Section 18-3, we briefly referred to three games: playing for time, cash in and run, and bait and switch. For each game, construct a simple numerical example (like the example for the risk-shifting game) showing how shareholders can gain at the expens

> Look back at the Johnson & Johnson example in Section 18-1. Suppose Johnson & Johnson increases its long-term debt to $30 billion. It uses the additional debt to repurchase shares. Reconstruct Table 18.4B with the new capital structure. How much

> “The trouble with MM’s argument is that it ignores the fact that individuals cannot deduct interest for personal income tax.” Show why this is not an objection if personal tax rates on interest and equity income are the same.

> Suppose that Congress sets the top personal tax rate on interest and dividends at 35% and the top rate on realized capital gains at 15%. The corporate tax rate stays at 35%. Compute the difference between the total corporate plus personal taxes paid on d

> Compute the present value of interest tax shields generated by these three debt issues. Consider corporate taxes only. The marginal tax rate is Tc = .35. a. A $1,000, one-year loan at 8%. b. A five-year loan of $1,000 at 8%. Assume no principal is repaid

> Why does asymmetric information push companies to raise external funds by borrowing rather than by issuing common stock?

> The trade-off theory relies on the threat of financial distress. But why should a public corporation ever have to land in financial distress? According to the theory, the firm should operate at the top of the curve in Figure 18.2. Of course market moveme

> For what kinds of companies is financial slack most valuable? Are there situations in which financial slack should be reduced by borrowing and paying out the proceeds to the stockholders? Explain.

> Fill in the blanks: According to the pecking-order theory, a. The firm’s debt ratio is determined by ________. b. Debt ratios depend on past profitability, because ______.

> How would your answer to Problem 10 change if technological improvements reduce the cost of new BG production facilities by 3% per year? Thus a new plant built in year 1 would cost only 25 (1 – .03) = $24.25 million; a plant built in year 2 would cost $2

> Rajan and Zingales identified four variables that seemed to explain differences in debt ratios in several countries. What are the four variables?

> The traditional theory of optimal capital structure states that firms trade off corporate interest tax shields against the possible costs of financial distress due to borrowing. What does this theory predict about the relationship between book profitabil

> On February 29, 2015, when PDQ Computers announced bankruptcy, its share price fell from $3.00 to $.50 per share. There were 10 million shares outstanding. Does that imply bankruptcy costs of 10 × (3.00 – .50) = $25 million? Explain.

> “The firm can’t use interest tax shields unless it has (taxable) income to shield.” What does this statement imply for debt policy? Explain briefly.

> What is the relative tax advantage of corporate debt if the corporate tax rate is Tc = .35, the personal tax rate is Tp = .35, but all equity income is received as capital gains and escapes tax entirely (TpE = 0)? How does the relative tax advantage chan

> Here are book and market value balance sheets of the United Frypan Company (UF): Assume that MM’s theory holds with taxes. There is no growth, and the $40 of debt is expected to be permanent. Assume a 40% corporate tax rate.
a. How much of the firm’s v

> The present value of interest tax shields is often written as TcD, where D is the amount of debt and Tc is the marginal corporate tax rate. Under what assumptions is this present value correct?

> Can you invent any new kinds of debt that might be attractive to investors? Why do you think they have not been issued?

> Gaucho Services starts life with all-equity financing and a cost of equity of 14%. Suppose it refinances to the following market-value capital structure:
Use MM’s proposition 2 to calculate the new cost of equity. Gaucho pays taxes at a marginal rate o

> People often convey the idea behind MM’s proposition 1 by various supermarket analogies, for example, “The value of a pie should not depend on how it is sliced,” or, “The cost of a whole chicken should equal the cost of assembling one by buying two drums

> Who monitors the top management of public U.S. corporations? (We have mentioned several types of monitoring in this chapter.)

> True or false? a. U.S. CEOs are paid much more than CEOs in other countries. b. A large fraction of compensation for U.S. CEOs comes from stock-option grants. c. Stock-option grants give the manager a certain number of shares delivered at annual interval

> What is the Federal Register? What role does it play in rulemaking? What is the difference between the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations?

> New York City’s charter authorized the New York City Board of Health to adopt a health code that it declared to have the force and effect of law. The board adopted a code that provided for the fluoridation of the public water supply. A suit was brought t

> Santa Monica adopted a rent control ordinance authorizing the Rent Control Board to set the amount of rents that could be charged. At a hearing before it, the board determined that McHugh was charging his tenants a rent higher than the maximum allowed. M

> Congress adopted a law to provide insurance to protect wheat farmers. The agency in charge of the program adopted regulations to govern applications for this insurance. These regulations were published in the Federal Register. Merrill applied for insuran

> The Banco Central administered a humanitarian plan for the government of Ecuador. Fernando Banderas and his wife presented false claims that the bank paid. After the fraud was discovered, the bank sued Banderas and his wife for damages for fraud and treb

> Dr. Doyle E. Campbell, an ophthalmologist, established his practice in southern Ohio in 1971. Many of Dr. Campbell’s patients are elderly people who qualify for federal Medicare benefits and state Medicaid benefits. Under the existing financing system, a

> The FDA was challenged by tobacco companies for its new rules that required the tobacco companies to put one of the FDA ’ s 12 picture labels on its pack- aging. The tobacco companies argued that their First Amendment rights were violated by the rules, f

> Gardner-Denver is the largest manufacturer of ratchet wrenches and their replacement parts in the United States. Gardner-Denver had two different lists of prices for its wrenches and parts. Its blue list had parts that, if purchased in quantities of five

> The Quickie brand wheelchair is the most popular customized wheelchair on the market. Its market share is 90 percent. Other manufacturers produce special-use wheelchairs that fold, that are made of mesh and lighter frames, and that are easily trans- port

> Public Interest Corporation (PIC) owned and operated television station WTMV-TV in Lakeland, Florida. MCA Television Ltd. (MCA) owns and licenses syndicated television programs. In 1990, the two companies entered into a licensing contract for several fir

> BRG of Georgia, Inc. (BRG), and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Legal and Professional Publications (HJB) are the nation’s two largest providers of bar review materials and lectures. HJB began offering a Georgia bar review course on a limited basis in 1976 and

> Department 56 is a company that manufactures and sells collectible Christmas village houses and other replica items to allow collectors to create the whimsical “Snow Village” town or “Dickens Christmas.” Department 56 has only authorized dealers. Sam’s C

> A&P Grocery Stores decided to sell its own brand of canned milk (referred to as private label milk). A&P asked its longtime supplier, Borden, to submit an offer to produce the private label milk. Bowman Dairy also submitted a bid, which was lower than Bo

> The Aspen ski area consisted of four mountain areas. Aspen Highlands, which owned three of those areas, and Aspen Skiing, which owned the fourth, had cooperated for years in issuing a joint, multiple-day, all-area ski ticket. After repeatedly and unsucce

> Favorite Foods Corp. sold its food to stores and distributors. It established a quantity discount scale that was publicly published and made available to all buyers. The top of the scale gave the highest dis- count to buyers purchasing more than 100 frei

> Dr. Edwin G. Hyde, a board-certified anesthesiologist, applied for permission to practice at East Jefferson Hospital in Louisiana. An approval was recommended for his hiring, but the hospital’s board denied him employment on grounds that the hospital had

> Moore ran a bakery in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His business was wholly intrastate. Meads Fine Bread Co., his competitor, engaged in an interstate business. Meads cut the price of bread in half in Santa Rosa but made no price cut in any other place in New

> Hines Cosmetic Co. sold beauty preparations nationally to beauty shops at a standard or fixed- price schedule. Some of the shops were also supplied with a free demonstrator and free advertising materials. The shops that were not supplied with them claime

> During the 1980s, the NCAA, a voluntary unincorporated association of approximately 1,100 educational institutions, became concerned over the steadily rising costs of maintaining competitive athletic programs. As a way of containing those costs, the asso

> David Ungar holds a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. The terms of his franchise agreement require him to use only those ingredients furnished by Dunkin’ Donuts. He is also required to buy its napkins, cups, and so on, with the Dunkin’ Donuts trademark on them.

> Penny Stafford, the owner of Belvi Coffee and Tea Exchange, located in Bellevue, Washington, brought an antitrust suit against Starbucks. She alleged that through its exclusive leases, Starbucks bans other coffee shops from competing. Starbucks has a 73

> American Crystal Sugar Co. was one of several refiners of beet sugar in northern California, and it distributed its product in interstate commerce. American Crystal and the other refiners had a monopoly on the seed supply and were the only practical mark

> New Hampshire adopted a tax law that in effect taxed the income of nonresidents working in New Hampshire only. Austin, a nonresident who worked in New Hampshire, claimed that the tax law was invalid. Was he correct? Explain. [ Austin v. New Hampshire, 42

> The Federal Food Stamp Act provided for the distribution of food stamps to needy households. In 1971, section 3(e) of the statute was amended to define households as limited to groups whose 70 PART 1: The Legal and Social Environment of Business members