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3. Universal Auto is a large multinational corporation headquartered in the United States. For segment reporting purposes, the company is engaged in two businesses: production of motor vehicles and information processing services.
The motor vehicle business is by far the larger of Universal’s two segments. It consists mainly of domestic U.S. passenger car production, but it also includes small truck manufacturing operations in the United States and passenger car production in other countries. This segment of Universal has had weak operating results for the past several years, including a large loss in 2013. Although the company does not reveal the operating results of its domestic passenger car segments, that part of Universal’s business is generally believed to be primarily responsible for the weak performance of its motor vehicle segment.
Idata, the information processing services segment of Universal, was started by Universal about 15 years ago. This business has shown strong, steady growth that has been entirely internal; no acquisitions have been made.
An excerpt from a research report on Universal prepared by Paul Adams, a CFA candidate, states: “Based on our assumption that Universal will be able to increase prices significantly on U.S. passenger cars in 2014, we project a multibillion dollar profit improvement.”
a. Discuss the concept of an industrial life cycle by describing each of its four phases.
b. Identify where each of Universal’s two primary businesses—passenger cars and information processing—is in such a cycle.
c. Discuss how product pricing should differ between Universal’s two businesses, based on the location of each in the industrial life cycle.
11. The FI Corporation’s dividends per share are expected to grow indefinitely by 5% per year.
a. If this year’s year-end dividend is $8 and the market capitalization rate is 10% per year, what must the current stock price be according to the DDM?
b. If the expected earnings per share are $12, what is the implied value of the ROE on future investment opportunities?
c. How much is the market paying per share for growth opportunities (i.e., for an ROE on future investments that exceeds the market capitalization rate)?
12. The stock of Nogro Corporation is currently selling for $10 per share. Earnings per share in the coming year are expected to be $2. The company has a policy of paying out 50% of its earnings each year in dividends. The rest is retained and invested in projects that earn a 20% rate of return per year. This situation is expected to continue indefinitely.
a. Assuming the current market price of the stock reflects its intrinsic value as computed using the constant-growth DDM, what rate of return do Nogro’s investors require?
b. By how much does its value exceed what it would be if all earnings were paid as dividends and nothing were reinvested?
c. If Nogro were to cut its dividend payout ratio to 25%, what would happen to its stock price? What if Nogro eliminated the dividend?
13. The risk-free rate of return is 8%, the expected rate of return on the market portfolio is 15%, and the stock of Xyrong Corporation has a beta coefficient of 1.2. Xyrong pays out 40% of its earnings in dividends, and the latest earnings announced were $10 per share. Dividends were just paid and are expected to be paid annually. You expect that Xyrong will earn an ROE of 20% per year on all reinvested earnings forever.
a. What is the intrinsic value of a share of Xyrong stock?
6. Suppose you think FedEx stock is going to appreciate substantially in value in the next 6 months. Say the stock’s current price, S0, is $100, and the call option expiring in 6 months has an exercise price, X, of $100 and is selling at a price, C, of $10. With $10,000 to invest, you are considering three alternatives.
a. Invest all $10,000 in the stock, buying 100 shares.
b. Invest all $10,000 in 1,000 options (10 contracts).
c. Buy 100 options (one contract) for $1,000, and invest the remaining $9,000 in a money market fund paying 4% in interest over 6 months (8% per year).
What is your rate of return for each alternative for the following four stock prices 6 months from now? Summarize your results in the table and diagram below.
26. Joe Finance has just purchased a stock index fund, currently selling at $1,200 per share. To protect against losses, Joe also purchased an at-the-money European put option on the fund for $60, with exercise price $1,200, and 3-month time to expiration. Sally Calm, Joe’s financial adviser, points out that Joe is spending a lot of money on the put. She notes that 3-month puts with strike prices of $1,170 cost only $45, and suggests that Joe use the cheaper put.
a. Analyze Joe’s and Sally’s strategies by drawing the profit diagrams for the stock-plus-put positions for various values of the stock fund in 3 months.
b. When does Sally’s strategy do better? When does it do worse?
c. Which strategy entails greater systematic risk?
