During the last few years, Harry Davis Industries has been too constrained by the high cost of capital to make many capital investments. Recently, though, capital costs have been declining, and the company has decided to look seriously at a major expansion program that has been proposed by the marketing department. Assume that you are an assistant to Leigh Jones, the financial vice president. Your first task is to estimate Harry Davis's cost of capital. Jones has provided you with the following data, which she believes may be relevant to your task:
(1) The firm's tax rate is 40%.
(2) The current price of Harry Davis's 12% coupon, semiannual payment, noncallable bonds with 15 years remaining to maturity is $1,153.72. Harry Davis does not use short-term interest-bearing debt on a permanent basis. New bonds would be privately placed with no flotation cost.
(3) The current price of the firm’s 10%, $100 par value, quarterly dividend, perpetual preferred stock is $116.95. Harry Davis would incur flotation costs equal to 5% of the proceeds on a new issue.
(4) Harry Davis's common stock is currently selling at $50 per share. Its last dividend (D0) was $3.12, and dividends are expected to grow at a constant rate of 5.8% in the foreseeable future. Harry Davis's beta is 1.2, the yield on T-bonds is 5.6%, and the market risk premium is estimated to be 6%. For the own-bond-yield-plus-judgmental-risk-premium approach, the firm uses a 3.2% judgmental risk premium.
(5) Harry Davis's target capital structure is 30% long-term debt, 10% preferred stock, and 60% common equity.
k. What procedures can be used to estimate the risk-adjusted cost of capital for a particular division? What approaches are used to measure a division's beta?
m. What are three types of project risk? How can each type of risk be considered when thinking about the new division's cost of capital?
n. Explain in words why new common stock that is raised externally has a higher percentage cost than equity that is raised internally by retaining earnings.
p. What four common mistakes in estimating the WACC should Jana avoid?