Mci Communications Case Summary

Issuing additional debt to finance the company expansion would worsen the company’s debt ratio as it is already more than average. The company envisions to be profitable by raising capital from existing stockholders by issuing common stock through rights offering.

MCI would be better to keep its capital structure of 55% debt. The cost of equity is high because raising more equity will dilute the value for existing shareholders. Due to the fact that MCI has a high leverage, it is not feasible to issue debt. Additionally, MCI has exhausted the line of credit from the banks and used convertible debentures frequently. MCI belongs to a competitive and regulatory industry. The high leverage will limit its potential to grow. In exhibit 8, MCI does not have a bond rating. The convertible bond allowed the company to raise capital and convert to equity later. The interest coverage ratio of AT&T is 3.6X whereas that of MCI is 4.2X. After increasing the market share, the company can obtain a bond rating by decreasing its financial leverage.

21. Universal Forests current stock price is $154.00 and it is likely to pay a $5.23 dividend next year. Since analysts estimate Universal Forest will have a 13.0% growth rate what is the required return?

A correct response requires that you find an appropriate industry beta and measure for levered/unlevered betas and requires that you define cost of equity capital and free cash flow (FCF) – you may need a formula for FCF.

An analysis of a repurchase of stock for $400 million cash, and recapitalization to 80% debt-to-total capital by borrowing $1.27 million reveals that BBBYs return on equity will be 113%, return on assets 61% and an after tax cost of debt of 28%. ROE is > ROA and ROA > after tax cost of debt. With the 80% debt-to-total capital structure ROE exceeds the other two capital structure scenarios of no debt and 40% debt-to-total capital. While all of this looks great there are other considerations. The household and personal products industries debt to total asset ratio is 34.69% while BBBY debt to total asset ratio is at 44% ($1,270,000/$2,865,023). Increasing to this capital structure would also reduce shareholders earnings per share.

Cost of Equity = Risk free rate + (Market return – risk free rate) X beta

Based upon the firm’s low target leverage of 5%, low degree of operating leverage, and favorable credit history and financial outlook, the model assumes a cost of debt in line with AAA corporate debt at 7.02%. This estimate seems reasonable and sensitivity analysis shows a 1% decrease in the forecasted share price requires at least a 2.4% increase in the cost of debt.

Pro-forma income statement and key credit rating determinants are shown in Exhibit 2 and 3 respectively. Remaining share no. of 158.3m after repurchase is based on proportional value addition distribution between cash-out and remaining shareholders and this number is inserted to calculate earning per share and corresponding immediate share price change after announcement of repurchase program. According to Exhibit 3 and industrial average of relevant grades, only fund flow/ total debt and total debt/ capital measures are not comparable with A credit rating. Considering EBIT and EBITDA interest coverage are two most important criteria and equity market value is so substantially different from book value which leads to a healthy

Target Corporation is having a very stable financial policy and dividend policy. From the historical financial data, Target had debt $11,044M, $11,202M, $10,599M, $17,471M, and $19,882M in the year of 2005,2006,2007,2008, and 2009 respectively. The long-term debt/equity ratio rises from 69.34% to 108%.

Considering UST only had short-term debt issues prior to the recapitalization, and that credit ratings depend on maturity of debt issued, we cannot simply rely on the commercial paper ratings to extrapolate. We assume that rating will be A based on competitors’ ratings as well as UST’s overall financial standing. We then use this assumption to calculate the value of the company using the two methods above.

Essentially, MCI relied heavily on convertible debt. As their stock price rose, the debt was converted to equity. Jeremy Stein (1992) states that a "good firm will use convertibles because the firm's true value will be made known before the debt is due". Following Stein's observations, Jen, Choi, and Lee (1997) conclude that "convertible bond financing is an attractive alternative for companies that have large growth potential but find both conventional debt and equity financing very costly". MCI clearly had a vision for substantial growth. The MCI management saw an opportunity for financing that would result in issuing equity and leave the possibility open to acquiring more debt in the future, if needed.

In June 2002 Blanka Dobrynin, a managing director of Aurora Borealis hedge fund, considers the possible gains from increasing the debt capitalization of The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Blanka suggests Wrigley raise the amount of $3 billion in debt of the capitalization while Wrigley has been conservatively financed and remained no debt at the end of 2001. This report is aiming to analyze whether Wrigley should use $3 billion debt recapitalization to either pay dividends or to repurchase shares.

SRC offers superior returns on common equity (ROCE). This undoubtedly reflects the greater amount of debt in the capital structure vis a vis WM, and a stronger gross margin. However, SRC’s ROCE has declined in the last year mainly because a reaffirmation charge (40% of Net Income) generated in lawsuits and a possible violation of the United States Bankruptcy Code. We need to highlight the uncertainty associated with the reaffirmation charge; this means that the actual results can differ from the

First, a large share repurchase will significantly increase shareholders’ percentage ownership of BKI. BKI has been under levered for decades. The company acquisitions of several small manufacturers made shareholders’ equity be diluted even more. In other words, shareholders, especially the main shareholders in Blaine’s board, are paying for BKI’s over-liquidity. This share repurchase will not only give the board more flexibility to allot dividends, but will lead to a stable development of BKI’s business in the long run.

From 1993 until the start of 1995, MCI’s stock had outperformed the S&P. However, in 1995, the stock’s performance was poorer than the S&P. With shareholder’s getting restless, the idea of a stock repurchase was being considered. Depending on which option MCI chooses—stock repurchase with debt issuance or open market repurchase program—the message being sent could be different. Let’s consider option one—MCI issues debt and uses the proceeds to repurchase stock. According to the article “Raising Capital: Theory and Evidence” by Clifford Smith, the market would likely react very positively to this leverage-increasing event. Because of the information disparity between a