Question 11

Finding the WACC Given the following information for Huntington Power Co., find
the WACC. Assume the companys tax rate is 35 percent.
Debt: 4,000 7 percent coupon bonds outstanding, $1,000 par value, 20 years to
maturity, selling for 103 percent of par; the bonds make semiannual payments.
Common stock: 90,000 shares outstanding, selling for $57 per share; the beta is 1.10.
Market: 8 percent market risk premium and 6 percent risk-free rate.
First: find the market value of each type of financing:
MVD = 4,000($1,000)(1.03) = $4,120,000
MVE = 90,000($57) = $5,130,000
And the total market value of the firm is:
V = $4,120,000 + 5,130,000 = $9,250,000
Now, we can find the cost of equity using the CAPM. The cost of equity is:
RE = .06 + 1.10(.08) = .1480 or 14.80%
The cost of debt is the YTM of the bonds, so:
P0 = $1,030 = $35(PVIFAR%,40) + $1,000(PVIFR%,40)
R = 3.36%
YTM = 3.36% 2 = 6.72%
And the aftertax cost of debt is:
RD = (1 .35)(.0672) = .0437 or 4.37%
Now we have all of the components to calculate the WACC. The WACC is:
WACC = .0437(4.12/9.25) + .1480(5.13/9.25) = .1015 or 10.15%

Notice that we didnt include the (1 t C) term in the WACC equation. We

simply used the aftertax cost of debt in the equation, so the term is not needed
here.
P.S. I have also answered the questions on the attached excel sheet template
from the books website.
Question 14
WACC and NPV Och, Inc., is considering a project that will result in initial aftertax
cash savings of $3.5 million at the end of the first year, and these savings will grow at a
rate of 5 percent per year indefinitely. The firm has a target debt-equity ratio of .65, a
cost of equity of 15 percent, and an aftertax cost of debt of 5.5 percent. The cost-saving
proposal is somewhat riskier than the usual project the firm undertakes; management
uses the subjective approach and applies an adjustment factor of +2 percent to the cost
of capital for such risky projects. Under what circumstances should Och take on the
project?
Using the debt-equity ratio to calculate the WACC, we find:
WACC = (.65/1.65)(.055) + (1/1.65)(.15) = .1126 or 11.26%
Since the project is riskier than the company, we need to adjust the project
discount rate for the additional risk. Using the subjective risk factor given, we
find:
Project discount rate = 11.26% + 2.00% = 13.26%
We would accept the project if the NPV is positive. The NPV is the PV of the cash
outflows plus the PV of the cash inflows. Since we have the costs, we just need to
find the PV of inflows. The cash inflows are a growing perpetuity. If you
remember,
the equation for the PV of a growing perpetuity is the same as the dividend growth
equation, so:
PV of future CF = $3,500,000/(.1326 .05) = $42,385,321

The project should only be undertaken if its cost is less than $42,385,321 since costs
less than this amount will result in a positive NPV.
Question 17
Project Evaluation This is a comprehensive project evaluation problem bringing
together much of what you have learned in this and previous chapters. Suppose you
have been hired as a financial consultant to Euro Trans Air (ETA), a large, publicly
traded firm that is the market share leader in radar detection systems (RDSs). The
company is looking at setting up a manufacturing plant overseas to produce a new line
of RDSs. This will be a five-year project. The company bought some land three years
ago for (??)7 million in anticipation of using it as a toxic dump site for waste chemicals,
but it built a piping system to safely discard the chemicals instead. If the company sold
the land today, it would receive (??)6.5 million after taxes. In five years, the land can be
sold for (??)4.5 million after taxes and reclamation costs. The company wants to build
its new manufacturing plant on this land; the plant will cost (??)15 million to build. The
following market data on ETAs securities are current:

Debt: 15,000 7 percent coupon bonds outstanding, 15 years to maturity, selling for 92
percent of par; the bonds have a (??)1,000 par value each and make semiannual
payments.
Common stock: 300,000 shares outstanding, selling for (??)75 per share; the beta is
1.3.
Preferred stock: 20,000 shares of 5 percent preferred stock outstanding, selling for
(??)72 per share.
Market: 8 percent expected market risk premium; 5 percent risk-free rate.
ETAs tax rate is 35 percent. The project requires (??)900,000 in initial net working
capital investment to get operational.
a. Calculate the projects initial Time 0 cash flow, taking into account all side effects.
b. The new RDS project is somewhat riskier than a typical project for ETA, primarily
because the plant is being located overseas. Management has told you to use an
adjustment factor of +2 percent to account for this increased riskiness. Calculate the
appropriate discount rate to use when evaluating ETAs project.
c. The manufacturing plant has an eight-year tax life, and ETA uses straight-line
depreciation. At the end of the project (i.e., the end of Year 5), the plant can be scrapped

for (??)5 million. What is the aftetax salvage value of this manufacturing plant?
d. The company will incur (??)400,000 in annual fixed costs. The plan is to
manufacture 12,000 RDSs per year and sell them at (??)10,000 per machine; the
variable production costs are (??)9,000 per RDS. What is the annual operating cash
flow, OCF, from this project?
e. ETAs comptroller is primarily interested in the impact of ETAs investments on the
bottom line of reported accounting statements. What will you tell her is the accounting
break-even quantity of RDSs sold for this project?
f. Finally, ETAs president wants you to throw all your calculations, assumptions, and
everything else into the report for the chief financial officer; all he wants to know is
what the RDS projects internal rate of return, IRR, and net present value, NPV, are.
What will you report?
Solution to Comprehensive Problem (Question 17)
The $7 million cost of the land 3 years ago is a sunk cost and irrelevant; the $6.5
million appraised value of the land is an opportunity cost and is relevant. The
relevant market value capitalization weights are:
MVD = 15,000($1,000)(0.92) = $13,800,000
MVE = 300,000($75) = $22,500,000
MVP = 20,000($72) = $1,440,000
The total market value of the company is:
V = $13,800,000 + 22,500,000 + 1,440,000 = $37,740,000
Next we need to find the cost of funds. We have the information available to
calculate the cost of equity using the CAPM, so:
RE = .05 + 1.3(.08) = .1540 or 15.40%
The cost of debt is the YTM of the companys outstanding bonds, so:
P0 = $920 = $35(PVIFAR%,30) + $1,000(PVIFR%,30)
R = 3.96%

YTM = 3.96% 2 = 7.92%

And the aftertax cost of debt is:
RD = (1 .35)(.0792) = .0515 or 5.15%
The cost of preferred stock is:
RP = $5/$72 = .0694 or 6.94%
a.

The initial cost to the company will be the opportunity cost of the land,
the cost of the plant, and the net working capital cash flow, so:
CF0 = $6,500,000 15,000,000 900,000 = $22,400,000

b.

To find the required return on this project, we first need to calculate the
WACC for the company. The companys WACC is:
WACC = [($22.5/$37.74)(.1540) + ($1.44/$37.74)(.0694) + ($13.8/$37.74)
(.0515)] = .1133
The company wants to use the subjective approach to this project because
it is located overseas. The adjustment factor is 2 percent, so the required
return on this project is:
Project required return = .1133 + .02 = .1333
c.

The annual depreciation for the equipment will be:

$15,000,000/8 = $1,875,000
So, the book value of the equipment at the end of five years will be:
BV5 = $15,000,000 5($1,875,000) = $5,625,000
So, the aftertax salvage value will be:

Aftertax salvage value = $5,000,000 + .35($5,625,000 5,000,000) =

$5,218,750
d.

Using the tax shield approach, the OCF for this project is:
OCF = [(P v)Q FC](1 t) + tCD
OCF = [($10,000 9,000)(12,000) 400,000](1 .35) + .35($15M/8) =
$8,196,250

e.

f.

The accounting breakeven sales figure for this project is:

QA = (FC + D)/(P v) = ($400,000 + 1,875,000)/($10,000 9,000) = 2,275

units
We have calculated all cash flows of the project. We just need to make sure
that in Year 5 we add back the aftertax salvage value, the recovery of the
initial NWC, and the aftertax value of the land. The cash flows for the
project are:
Year
Flow Cash
0
$22,400,000
1
8,196,250
2
8,196,250
3
8,196,250
4
8,196,250
5
18,815,000
Using the required return of 13.33 percent, the NPV of the project is:
NPV = $22,400,000 + $8,196,250(PVIFA13.33%,4) + $18,815,000/1.13335
NPV = $11,878,610.78
And the IRR is:
NPV = 0 = $22,400,000 + $8,196,250(PVIFAIRR%,4) + $18,815,000/(1 +
IRR)5
IRR = 30.87%