Target Corp. Weighted Average Cost of Capital

Then we can use the following formula to calculate the WACC. The cost of debt is taken to be on an after tax basis to further to account for the depreciation tax shield.

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

The table below shows the equity betas for the firms presented in the case (using Jan-92 to Dec-96 equal weight NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ as market portfolio):

Here we choose VW NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ data as market returns, because it’s value weighted and more reliable. The results show CSC’s equity beta = 2.27, QRG’s equity beta = 1.79.

10. What is the correct capital structure and weighted average cost of capital for discounting the investment’s free cash flow. Assume a 35% tax rate. A correct response requires that you define capital structure and Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) with a formula. When defining a term with a formula be sure that all the variables are also defined.

The comptroller currently finds the weights for the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) from information from the balance sheet shown in Table 2. Compute the book value weights that the comp­trol­ler currently uses for the company’s capital structure.

WACC= (%of debt) (after-tax cost of debt) + (% of preferred stock)(Cost of preferred stock) + (% of common equity) (Cost of common equity)

In order to find the WACC, we need to find the cost of the components of the capital structure and their proportion in the total capital.

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

A common practice to determine the firm’s beta is to draw from historical data from published sources or compare numbers to competitors. In this case, Heinz can compare to Kraft, Campbell Soup and Del Monte and use professional judgement in determining the stock’s sensitivity to the market. A stock’s beta can be determined using a formula as well.

WACC calculations entailed several different steps prior to using the actual WACC formula. First, by using CPP’s balance sheet we identified its D/E, by dividing Debt portion by the Equity portion arriving at 2.07, than we calculated D/V – 0.67 and E/V – 0.33. Afterwards, we used comparable firm Wackenhut’s capital structure for our analysis and applied it to our calculations. Wackenhut’s capital structure consisted of 92% equity and 8% debt. Subsequently, we went through the Beta unlevering and then levering process using above capital structure. To unlever, we multiplied given beta of 0.89 by the debt portion of capital structure 0.92, than we relevered the Beta_e=(1+D/E 2.07) * unlevered Beta 0.82 = 2.51. Next step consisted of calculating R_e=R_f+beta_e*MRP= 8.6%(given)+2.51*7.5% (given)=27.41%.

Despite this change in price, the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) will give a more accurate representation of what the change in capital structure implies for the firm, by taking account the costs of debt.

With all the above aspects considered, Adecco arrived at a debt portion of WACC equal to .96% and an equity portion of 9.31% resulting in an overall WACC of 10.27%. This was calculated utilizing a beta of equity considering a beta of debt and assets of 0.2 and 0.48 respectively. Utilizing the free cash

Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is a fiscal barometer to gauge a business cost of capital. In this sense, the WACC supplies at discount