New Line Cinema is considering producing a new movie. To evaluate the proposal, the company needs to calculate its cost of capital. The firm has collected the following information:

a. The company wants to maintain is current capital structure, which is 20% equity, 20% preferred stock and 60% debt.
b. The firm has marginal tax rate of 34%.
c. The firm's preferred stock pays an annual dividend of $4.3 forever, and each share is currently worth $135.26.
d. The firm has one bond outstanding with a coupon rate of 6%, paid semiannually, 10 years to maturity, a face value of $1,000, and a current price of $1,163.51.
e. The company's beta is 0.8, the yield on Treasury bonds is is 0.6% and the expected return on the market portfolio is 6%.
f. The current stock price is $39.17. The firm has just paid an annual dividend of $1.13, which is expected to grow by 4% per year.
g. The firm uses a risk premium of 3% for the bond-yield-plus-risk-premium approach.
h. New preferred stock and bonds would be issued by private placement, largely eliminating flotation costs. New equity would come from retained earnings, thus eliminating flotation costs.

Required:
a. What is the cost of equity using the bond yield plus risk premium?
b. What is the midpoint of the range for the cost of equity?
c. What is the company's weighted average cost of capital?

Answer:

a.

7.00%

b.

5.96%

c.

1.20%

Explanation:

a.

First and foremost, we need to determine the yield to maturity on the bond, using a financial calculator as shown thus:

The financial calculator should be set to its default end mode before making the following inputs:

N=20(number of semiannual coupons  in 10 years=10*2=20)

PMT=30(semiannual coupon=face value*coupon rate*/2=$1000*6%/2=$30)

PV=-1163.51(current price=$1,163.51)

FV=1000(face value of the bond=$1000)

CPT

I/Y=2.00%(semiannual yield=2%, annnual yield=2.00%*2=4.00%)

bond yield plus risk premium=bond yield(4.00%)+ risk premium(3%)

bond yield plus risk premium=7.00%

b.

In determining the midpoint range is the maximum plus minimum cost of equity divided by 2

Let us determine cost of equity using the Capital Asset Pricing Model and Constant Dividend Growth Model

cost of equity=risk-free rate+beta*(expected return on the market portfolio-risk-free rate)

risk-free rate=yield on Treasury bonds= 0.6%

beta=0.8

expected return on the market portfolio= 6%

cost of equity=0.6%+0.8*(6%-0.6%)

cost of equity=4.92%

cost of equity=expected dividend/share price+growth rate

expected dividend=last dividend*(1+growth rate)

expected dividend=$1.13*(1+4%)=$1.1752

share price= $39.17

growth rate=4%

cost of equity=($1.1752/$39.17)+4%

cost of equity=7.00%

midpoint range=(maximum cost of equity+minimum cost of equity)/2

midpoint rate=(7.00%+4.92%)/2

midpoint range=5.96%

c.

WACC=(weight of equity*cost of equity)+(weight of preferred stock*cost of preferred stock)+(weight of debt*after-tax cost of debt)

weight of equity= 20%

cost of equity=5.96%

weight of preferred stock=20%

cost of preferred stock=annual dividend/price

cost of preferred stock=$4.3/$135.26=3.18%

weight of debt=60%

aftertax cost of debt=4.00%*(1-34%)=2.64%

WACC=(20%*5.96%)+(20%*3.18%)*(60%*2.64%)

WACC=1.20%