1. Two corporations A and B have exactly the same risk, and both have a current stock price of $100. Corporation A pays no dividend and will have a price of $120 one year from now. Corporation B pays dividends and will have a price of $113 one year from now after paying the dividend. The corporations pay no taxes and investors pay no taxes on capital gains, but pay a 30% income on dividends. What is the value of the dividend that investors expect corporation B to pay one year from today?
2.Suppose that, in an effort to reduce the federal deficit, Congress increases the top personal rate on interest and dividends to 35% but retains a 15% tax rate on realized capital gains. The corporate tax stays at 35%. Compute the total corporate plus personal rates paid on debt versus equity income if (a) all capital gains are realized immediately and (b) capital gains are deferred forever. Assume capital gains are half of equity income.
3.Your firm is considering leasing a magic box. The lease lasts for three years. The lease calls for three payments of $1,350 per year with the first payment occurring at lease inception. The magic box would cost $3,600 to buy and would be straight-line depreciated to zero salvage value over three years. The firm can borrow at 6%, and the marginal corporate tax rate is 30%. What is the NPV of the lease?
4.Briefly describe what happens in foreign exchange markets. The spot Yen/$US exchange rate is Yen119.795/$US, and the one-year forward rate is Yen114.571/$US. If the annual interest rate on dollar CDs is 6%, what annual interest rate would you expect on Yen CDs?
5.Whispering Pines, Inc. is all-equity-financed. The expected rate of return on the shares is 12%. Calculate the opportunity cost of capital for an average-risk Whispering Pines investment. Next, suppose the company issue debt, repurchases shares, and moves to a 30% debt to value ratio (D/V=.30). Calculate the company’s weighted-average cost of capital at the new capital structure. The borrowing rate is 7.5% and the tax rate is 35%.
Based on the WACC calculation, provide a one –to -two page paper summarizing your recommendations for Whispering Pines.
Answer will be sent by email as attachment.
