WACC AND OPTIMAL CAPITAL STRUCTURE Elliott Athletics is trying to determine its optimal capital structure, which now consists of only debt and common equity. The firm does not currently use
Elliott uses the
- a. What is the firm's optimal capital structure, and what would be its WACC at the optimal capital structure?
- b. If Elliott's managers anticipate that the company's business risk will increase in the future, what effect would this likely have on the firm's target capital structure?
- c. If Congress were to dramatically increase the corporate tax rate, what effect would this likely have on Elliott's target capital structure?
- d. Plot a graph of the after-tax cost of debt, the
cost of equity , and the WACC versus (1) the debt/capital ratio and (2) the debt/equity ratio.
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Chapter 13 Solutions
Fundamentals of Financial Management, Concise Edition (MindTap Course List)
- Using CFO Sheila Dowling’s projected weighted-average-cost of capital (WACC) schedule, what discount rate would you choose? What flaws, if any, might be inherent in using the WACC as the discount rate?arrow_forwardThe WACC is used as the discount rate to evaluate various capital budgeting projects. However, it is important to realize that the WACC is an appropriate discount rate only for a project of average risk. Analyze the cost of capital situations of the following company cases, and answer the specific questions that finance professionals need to address. Consider the case of Turnbull Co. Turnbull Co. has a target capital structure of 58% debt, 6% preferred stock, and 36% common equity. It has a before-tax cost of debt of 8.2%, and its cost of preferred stock is 9.3%. If Turnbull can raise all of its equity capital from retained earnings, its cost of common equity will be 12.4%. However, if it is necessary to raise new common equity, it will carry a cost of 14.2%. If its current tax rate is 25%, how much higher will Turnbull’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) be if it has to raise additional common equity capital by issuing new common stock instead of raising the funds…arrow_forwardThe WACC is used as the discount rate to evaluate various capital budgeting projects. However, it is important to realize that the WACC is an appropriate discount rate only for a project of average risk. Analyze the cost of capital situations of the following company cases, and answer the specific questions that finance professionals need to address. Consider the case of Turnbull Co. Turnbull Co. has a target capital structure of 58% debt, 6% preferred stock, and 36% common equity. It has a before-tax cost of debt of 8.2%, and its cost of preferred stock is 9.3%. If Turnbull can raise all of its equity capital from retained earnings, its cost of common equity will be 12.4%. However, if it is necessary to raise new common equity, it will carry a cost of 14.2%. A. If its current tax rate is 25%, how much higher will Turnbull’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) be if it has to raise additional common equity capital by issuing new common stock instead of raising the…arrow_forward
- Which of the following statements is most correct? Group of answer choices The optimal capital structure maximizes the WACC. None of these. Increasing the amount of debt in a firm's capital structure is likely to increase the cost of both debt and equity financing. If the after-tax cost of equity financing exceeds the after-tax cost of debt financing, firms are always able to reduce their WACC by increasing the amount of debt in their capital structure.arrow_forwardThe WACC is used as the discount rate to evaluate various capital budgeting projects. However, it is important to realize that the WACC is an appropriate discount rate only for a project of average risk. Analyze the cost of capital situations of the following company cases, and answer the specific questions that finance professionals need to address. Consider the case of Turnbull Co. Turnbull Co. has a target capital structure of 45% debt, 4% preferred stock, and 51% common equity. It has a before-tax cost of debt of 8.2%, and its cost of preferred stock is 9.3%. If Turnbull can raise all of its equity capital from retained earnings, its cost of common equity will be 12.4%. However, if it is necessary to raise new common equity, it will carry a cost of 14.2%. If its current tax rate is 25%, how much higher will Turnbull’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) be if it has to raise additional common equity capital by issuing new common stock instead of raising the funds…arrow_forwardWACC and Optimal Capital Structure F. Pierce Products Inc. is considering changing its capital structure. F. Pierce currently has no debt and no preferred stock, but it would like to add some debt to take advantage of low interest rates and the tax shield. Its investment banker has indicated that the pre-tax cost of debt under various possible capital structures would be as follows: F. Pierce uses the CAPM to estimate its cost of common equity, rs and at the time of the analysis the risk-free rate is 5%, the market risk premium is 6%, and the companys tax rate is 40%. F. Pierce estimates that its beta now (which is unlevered because it currently has no debt) is 0.8. Based on this information, what is the firms optimal capital structure, and what would be the weighted average cost of capital at the optimal capital structure?arrow_forward
- Solving for the WACC The WACC is used as the discount rate to evaluate various capital budgeting projects. However, it is important to realize that the WACC is an appropriate discount rate only for a project of average risk. Analyze the cost of capital situations of the following company cases, and answer the specific questions that finance professionals need to address. Consider the case of Turnbull Co. Turnbull Co. has a target capital structure of 58% debt, 6% preferred stock, and 36% common equity. It has a before-tax cost of debt of 11.1%, and its cost of preferred stock is 12.2%. If Turnbull can raise all of its equity capital from retained earnings, its cost of common equity will be 14.7%. However, if it is necessary to raise new common equity, it will carry a cost of 16.8%. If its current tax rate is 25%, how much higher will Turnbull’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) be if it has to raise additional common equity capital by issuing new common stock instead…arrow_forwardSolving for the WACC The WACC is used as the discount rate to evaluate various capital budgeting projects. However, it is important to realize that the WACC is an appropriate discount rate only for a project of average risk. Analyze the cost of capital situations of the following company cases, and answer the specific questions that finance professionals need to address. Consider the case of Turnbull Co. Turnbull Co. has a target capital structure of 58% debt, 6% preferred stock, and 36% common equity. It has a before-tax cost of debt of 11.1%, and its cost of preferred stock is 12.2%. If Turnbull can raise all of its equity capital from retained earnings, its cost of common equity will be 14.7%. However, if it is necessary to raise new common equity, it will carry a cost of 16.8%. Q1. If its current tax rate is 25%, how much higher will Turnbull’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) be if it has to raise additional common equity capital by issuing new common stock…arrow_forwardBIE The Cost of Capital: Weighted Averige cost of capital The firm's target capital structure is the mix of debt, presured stack, and common equity the firm plans to mise funds for future projects. The target proportions of debt, preferred stock, and common equity, along with the cost of these I components, are used to calculate the firm's weighted average cost of capital (WACC). If the firm will not have to issue new common study then the cost of retained earnings is used in the firm's WACC calculation. However, if the firm will I have to issue new common stock, the cost of new common stock should be used in the firm's WALC calculation. Barton Industines expects that its target capital Structure for finds in the future for its raising capital budget will consist of 40% debt, 5% prefence stock, and 55% common equity. Note that the firm's marginal tax rate is 25%. Assume that the firm's cost of debt, rd is 10.0%, the firm's cost of preferred stock, rp is 9.2.%. and the firm's cost of…arrow_forward
- 6. Backroads Sporting Goods is trying to determine its optimal capital structure, which now consists of only debt and common equity. The firm does not currently use preferred stock in its capital structure, and it does not plan to do so in the future. To estimate how much its debt would cost at different debt levels, the company's treasury staff has consulted with investment bankers and, on the basis of those cussions, has created the following table: 4 Debt-to-Capital Ratio 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 a 9.56% h 10.48% Equity-to- Capital Ratio 11.13% d. 11.45% e. 12.25 % (w.) 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Debt-to-Equity Ratio (D/E) 0.00 0.25 0.67 1.50 4.00 Bond Rating A BBB BB Before-Tax Cost of Debt 65% 7.5 9.5 D Backroads uses the CAPM to estimate its cost of common equity. r.. The company estimates that the risk-free rate is 6%, the market risk premium is 5%, and its tax rate is 40%. Backroads estimates that if it had no debt, its "unlevered" beta, bu, would be 1.25. On the basis of this information,…arrow_forwardTopic: Capital Budgeting and Valuation with Leverage Is it possible to calculate the unlevered value of a firm using the APV method, without knowing the debt level, assuming the growth rate of the EBIT and the interest coverage ratio are constant? I don't think so because then you cannot find the pre-tax WACC. Given information: EBIT FCF Cost of debt CAPM Corporate tax rate Tax paid Interest paid Long-term debtarrow_forwardIf interaction effects make it difficult for a firm to adjust its capital structure based on prevailing conditions, then Group of answer choices the firm should use as much debt financing as possible when it is financially healthy in order to benefit from lower corporate taxes the firm should target a 50% debt/50% equity capital structure the firm should choose the capital structure that will minimize all transaction costs--both direct and indirect the firm should use more equity financing than is necessarily optimal todayarrow_forward
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