Estimating Cost of Capital in Uncertain Times

The cost of equity is the theoretical return that equity investors expect or receive from the company for investing their funds in the company. The risk free rate that is the Government Treasury bill rate is 3.1%, the market risk premium is 7% and the beta has been calculated as

11. What is the Cost of Equity? ke = Risk Free Rate + (Beta X Risk Premium of 7.5% points). .03 + (.99 x .075) = 10.43%.

Heinz manufactured products in three categories: Ketchup and Sauces, Meals and Snacks, and Infant Nutrition. Heinz’s strategy was to

1. Determine the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) based on using retained earnings in the capital structure.

To find the cost of equity we used the formula rs = rRF + beta*MRP in which rRF2002 = 5.86% and the Market Risk Premium (MRP) = 5% as calculated by the Southwest Airlines finance department. We then calculated the beta for Southwest Airlines based on a regression analysis of five-year monthly returns on Southwest stock from January 1997 to January 2002, compared with the S&P 500 returns over the same period. This regression analysis indicated that Beta = .2219. Therefore,

a. What risk-free rate and risk premium did you use to calculate the cost of equity?

The Coca-Cola Company is a beverage company which owns more than 500 nonalcoholic brands. Its product is known by customers all over the world. The company has market capitalization of $185.88 billion (Google finance, Oct 2015). In addition to equity capital, the company also issues corporate bonds to finance its operation. Both stocks and bonds of the company is traded in The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). To calculate WACC of The Coca-Cola Company, we need to obtain some information about its debt

Most of the corporations calculate WACC for giving investors an estimate on profitability and for being able to weight future projects. We are presented with Boeing current bonds, which constitute the long term debt portion of capital, and with Boeing’s assets which constitute the equity portion of capital. No other weighted entities (such as preferred shares) are considered. The debt/equity ratio would help with the calculation of weights. Boeing would need to earn at least 15.443% return on its investments (including the 7E7 project) in order to maintain the actual share price.

Moreover, let’s calculate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). And in order to calculate it we need to know the capital structure of the company. Knowing the capital structure of the

CAPM results can be compared to the best expected rate of return that investor can possibly earn in other investments with similar risks, which is the cost of capital. Under the CAPM, the market portfolio is a well-diversified, efficient portfolio representing the non-diversifiable risk in the economy. Therefore, investments have similar risk if they have the same sensitivity to market risk, as measured by their beta with the market portfolio.

Heinz has reached an unstable point in its business cycle and must calculate an appropriate cost of capital during these uncertain times. The cost of capital is an essential measure in determining the cost of a company’s capital structure. It is the

The risk premium is equal to the difference between the risk-free rate and the expected market return. The case study provides two historical equity risk premiums; the geometric and arithmetic mean. The conventional wisdom is that the geometric mean is considered a better estimate for valuation over long periods, while the arithmetic mean a better estimate for valuation over shorter periods. To coincide with the choice of the 20yr yield on U.S. Treasuries, the geometric mean was therefore chosen for this analysis i.e. (Rm-Rf) = 5.9%

Cost of Debt has been calculated by dividing Interest Expense for the Year 1997 with the average balance of Long Term Debt + Current Maturity of Long Term Debt during

We added the market risk premium of 6% to the 4.60% because 6% is the rate that investors want above the risk free rate due to the risk of the investment. This equals 10.6% which is then multiplied by the beta of the company of 1.1. Beta is a measure of the stock’s volatility in relation to the market. A beta of 1.1 means that Worldwide Paper Company has slightly higher volatility than the market does. The total cost of equity then calculates to equal 11.2%. This tells us that given the risk taken in investing in the company, a shareholder should expect an 11.2% return.

What is the WACC and why is it important to estimate a firm’s cost of capital? Do you agree with Joanna Cohen’s WACC calculation? Why or why not?