Observed Capital Structures Refer to the observed capital structures given in Table 15.3 of the text. What do you notice about the types of industries with respect to their average debt-equity ratios? Are certain types of industries more likely to be highly leveraged than others? What are some possible reasons for this observed segmentation? Do the operating results and tax history of the firms play a role? How about their future earnings prospects?
Explain.TABLE 15.3 Capital Structure Ratios for Selected U.S. Nonfinancial Industries Source: Ibbotson Associates 2008, Cost of Capital Quarterly, 2008 Yearbook Debt as a percentage of the Market Value Equity and Debt (Industrial Media, %) High Leverage Air transport (451) 57.91 Building construction (15) 40.38 Communications (48) 33.57 Hotels and lodging (701) 44.16 Paper (26) 25.06 Low Leverage Biological products (2836) 5.89 Computers (3571) 1.60 Drugs (283) 6.76 Educational services (82) 7.81 Electronics (367) 3.29 Definition: Debt is the total of short-term debt and long-term debt. Values are industry medians of five-year averages.