The board of directors of Mystery Entertainment, Inc., wants the CEO to boost return on equity (ROE). During a recent interview, they announced their plan to improve the firm’s financial performance. They will raise the prices on all of the company’s products by 10%. They justify the plan by observing that ROE can be decomposed into the product of profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. By raising prices, it is believed this will increase the profit margin and thus ROE. Is this reasonable? Explain your answer.

The board of directors of Mystery Entertainment, Inc., wants the CEO to boost return on equity (ROE). During a recent interview, they announced their plan to improve the firm’s financial performance. They will raise the prices on all of the company’s products by 10%. They justify the plan by observing that ROE can be decomposed into the product of profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. By raising prices, it is believed this will increase the profit margin and thus ROE. Is this reasonable? Explain your answer.

Corporate Fin Focused Approach

5th Edition

ISBN:9781285660516

Author:EHRHARDT

Publisher:EHRHARDT

Chapter12: Corporate Valuation And Financial Planning

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1bM

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Paul Duncan, financial manager of EduSoft Inc., is facing a dilemma. The firm was founded 5 years ago to provide educational software for the rapidly expanding primary and secondary school markets. Although EduSoft has done well, the firms founder believes an industry shakeout is imminent. To survive, EduSoft must grab market share now, and this will require a large infusion of new capital. Because he expects earnings to continue rising sharply and looks for the stock price to follow suit, Mr. Duncan does not think it would be wise to issue new common stock at this time. On the other hand, interest rates are currently high by historical standards, and the firms B rating means that interest payments on a new debt issue would be prohibitive. Thus, he has narrowed his choice of financing alternatives to: (1) preferred stock, (2) bonds with warrants, or (3) convertible bonds. As Duncans assistant, you have been asked to help in the decision process by answering the following questions. How does preferred stock differ from both common equity and debt? Is preferred stock more risky than common stock? What is floating rate preferred stock?
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Imagine you are the manager of operations for a manufacturing company. Your vice president wants to expand production by building a new facility, and she would like you to develop a business case for the project. Assume that your company’s weighted average cost of capital is 13%, the after-tax cost of debt is 7%, preferred stock is 10.5%, and common equity is 15%. As you work on the business case, you surmise that this is a fairly risky project because of a recent slowing in product sales. In fact, when using the 13% weighted average cost of capital, you discover that the project is estimated to return about 10%, which is quite a bit less than the company’s weighted average cost of capital. Your vice president suggests that the project could be financed from a mix of retained earnings (50%) and bonds (50%). She reasons that retained earnings do not cost the company anything because it is cash you already have and the after-tax cost of debt is only 7%. That would lower your weighted…
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A recently hired chief executive officer wants to reduce future production costs to improve the company’s earnings, thereby increasing the value of the company’s stock. The plan is to invest $84,000 now and $62,000 in each of the next 4 years to improve productivity. By how much must annual costs decrease in years 5 through 13 to recover the investment plus a return of 11% per year?
John is CFO at a venture-backed tech start-up with revenues of $20 million and approximately 80 employees. He has worked at the company for several years, and now reports to Ralph, the company's newly hired CEO.The company had been doing really well, but recently big customers have been placing fewer orders and Ralph is feeling pressure to show growth. This pressure is amplified because the company is venture-backed, and the investors expect results. While the company did well in the first round of funding, if they don't perform now, they may have trouble with gaining sufficient funding in the second round, which could mean the end of the company.All of this was on John's mind when Ralph came to him about recording a major order that was still under negotiation. The deal had not gone through, although both parties expected to complete the deal in the next week. With the current quarter ending in the next few days, including this order would give a significant boost to the company's…
The CEO of Grace Company, Nicole Grace is debating an investment. The investment is projected to earn $20,000 annually and will require the company to acquire $100,000 in assets. The following chart summarizes Grace’s decision: Before Investment After Investment Operating income 75,000 95,000 Average operating assets 300,000 400,000 Required: Assume Grace is evaluated based on growth in the company’s ROI. Compute the Return on Investment for the company before and after the investment. Would you recommend Grace make the investment? Assume Grace is evaluated based on growth in the company’s residual income. The company’s required rate of return is 15%. Compute the company’s residual income before and after the investment. Would you recommend Grace make the investment?
The CEO of Grace Company, Nicole Grace is debating an investment. The investment is projected to earn $20,000 annually and will require the company to acquire $100,000 in assets. The following chart summarizes Grace’s decision: Before Investment After Investment Operating income 75,000 95,000 Average operating assets 300,000 400,000 Required: Assume Grace is evaluated based on growth in the company’s ROI. Compute the Return on Investment for the company before and after the investment. Would you recommend Grace make the investment? Assume Grace is evaluated based on growth in the company’s residual income. The company’s required rate of return is 15%. Compute the company’s residual income before and after the investment. Would you recommend Grace make the investment? Give at least one advantage and one disadvantage of using measures like ROI and residual income to evaluate company performance.