Q. What are Bonds?

A. A bond is a debt security, by which you are lending money to a government, municipality, corporation, or other entity known as the issuer. In return for the loan, the issuer promises to pay you a specified rate of interest during the life of the bond and to repay the face value of the bond (the principal) when it matures or becomes due.

Q. Why Invest in Bonds?

A. Because bonds typically have a predictable stream of payments and repayment of principal, many people invest in them to preserve and increase their capital or to receive dependable interest income.

Q.What do you mean by the Maturity of the bond?

A. Securities are issued for a fixed period of time at the end of which the principal amount borrowed is repaid to the investors. The date on which the term ends and proceeds are paid out is known as the Maturity date. It is specified on the face of the instrument. Maturity ranges are often categorized as follows: Shortterm notes: maturities of up to five years Intermediate notes/bonds: maturities of five to 12 years Longterm bonds: maturities of 12 or more years

Q. What is a Debenture?
A. A Debenture is a debt security issued by a company (called the Issuer), which offers to pay interest in lieu of the money borrowed for a certain period. In essence it represents a loan taken by the issuer who pays an agreed rate of interest during the lifetime of the instrument and repays the principal normally, unless otherwise agreed, on maturity. These are long-term debt instruments issued by private sector companies. These are issued in denominations as low as Rs 1000 and have maturities ranging between one and ten years.

Q. What are the different types of debentures?

A. Debentures are divided into different categories on the basis of Convertibility of the instrument and security On the basis of convertibility, debentures are classified into: Non Convertible Debentures (NCD): These instruments retain the debt character and can not be converted in to equity shares Partly Convertible Debentures (PCD): A part of these instruments are converted into Equity shares in the future at notice of the issuer. The issuer decides the ratio for conversion. This is normally decided at the time of subscription. Fully convertible Debentures (FCD): These are fully convertible into Equity shares at the issuer's notice. The ratio of conversion is decided by the issuer. Upon conversion the investors enjoy the same status as ordinary shareholders of the company. Optionally Convertible Debentures (OCD): The investor has the option to either convert these debentures into shares at price decided by the issuer/agreed upon at the time of issue. On the basis of Security, debentures are classified into: Secured Debentures: These instruments are secured by a charge on the fixed assets of the issuer company. So if the issuer fails on payment of the principal or interest amount, his assets can be sold to repay the liability to the investors Unsecured Debentures: These instrument are unsecured in the sense that if the issuer defaults on payment of the interest or principal amount, the investor has to be along with other unsecured creditors of the company.

Q. What is the difference between a bond and a debenture?

A. Long-term debt securities issued by the Government of India or any of the State Governments or undertakings owned by them or by development financial institutions are called as bonds. Instruments issued by other entities are called debentures. The difference between the two is actually a function of where they are registered and pay stamp duty and how they trade.

Q. What is Yield Curve?

A. The relationship between time and yield on a homogenous risk class of securities is called the Yield Curve. The relationship represents the time value of money - showing that people would demand a positive rate of return on the money they are willing to part today for a payback into the future. A yield curve can be positive, neutral or flat. A positive yield curve, which is most natural, is when the slope of the curve is positive, i.e. the yield at the longer end is higher than that at the shorter end of the time axis. This result, as people demand higher compensation for parting heir money for a longer time into the future. A neutral yield curve is that which has a zero slope, i.e. is flat across time. This occurs when people are willing to accept more or less the same returns across maturities. The negative yield curve (also called an inverted yield curve) is one of which the slope is negative, i.e. the long term yield is lower than the short term yield.

Q. What is Yield to Maturity/Yield to Call?

A. SYield to maturity and yield to call, tell you the total return you will receive by holding the bond until it matures or is called. It also enables you to compare bonds with different maturities and coupons. Yield to maturity equals all the interest you receive from the time you purchase the bond until maturity (including interest on interest at the original purchasing yield), plus any gain (if you purchased the bond below its par, or face, value) or loss (if you purchased it above its par value). Yield to call is calculated the same way as yield to maturity, but assumes that a bond will be called and that the investor will receive face value back at the call date.

Q. What is Interest Rate?

A. Bonds pay interest that can be fixed, floating or payable at maturity. Most debt securities carry an interest rate that stays fixed until maturity and is a percentage of the face (principal) amount. Typically, investors receive interest payments semiannually. For example, a Rs.1000 bond with an 8% interest rate will pay investors Rs.80 a year, in payments of Rs.40 every six months. When the bond matures, investors receive the full face amount of the bondRs.1, 000.

Capital Asset Pricing Model - CAPM

What Does Capital Asset Pricing Model - CAPM Mean? A model that describes the relationship between risk and expected return and that is used in the pricing of risky securities.

The general idea behind CAPM is that investors need to be compensated in two ways: time value of money and risk. The time value of money is represented by the risk-free (rf) rate in the formula and compensates the investors for placing money in any investment over a period of time. The other half of the formula represents risk and calculates the amount of compensation the investor needs for taking on additional risk. This is calculated by taking a risk measure (beta) that compares the returns of the asset to the market over a period of time and to the market premium (Rm-rf). Capital Asset Pricing Model - CAPM The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio equals the rate on a risk-free security plus a risk premium. If this expected return does not meet or beat the required return, then the investment should not be undertaken. The security market line plots the results of the CAPM for all different risks (betas). Using the CAPM model and the following assumptions, we can compute the expected return of a stock in this CAPM example: if the risk-free rate is 3%, the beta (risk measure) of the stock is 2 and the expected market return over the period is 10%, the stock is expected to return 17% (3%+2(10%-3%)).

Capitalization Of Earnings
What Does Capitalization Of Earnings Mean? A method of determining the value of an organization by calculating the net present value (NPV) of expected future profits or cash flows. The capitalization of earnings estimate is done by taking the entity's future earnings and dividing them by the capitalization rate (cap rate). This will take into account the risk that earnings will stop or be lower than the estimate.

Where: d = discount rate g = growth rate Capitalization Of Earnings This is an income-valuation approach that determines the value of a business by looking at the current benefit of realizing a cash flow now, rather than in the future. The capitalization of earnings is particularly useful when the future earnings can be predicted easily and accurately. For example, if a company had a business that made $1.2 million last year and that was expected to grow at a 4% rate (plus a 3.25% inflation rate), the annual rate of return needed by a purchaser given the level of risk would be 26%. Expected value using the capitalization of earnings method would be $6.4 million, calculated as: -$1,200,000/ (0.26 - (.04+.0325)) -$1,200,000/0.1875 -$6.4 million