Problem 1. Calculate the net present value and profitability index of a project with a net investment of $20,000 and expected net cash flows of $3,000 a year for 10 years if the project's required return is 12 percent. Is the project acceptable?
Problem 2. A firm wishes to bid on a contract that is expected to yield the following aftertax net cash flows at the end of each year:
Year Net Cash Flow
1 $5,000
2 8,000
3 9,000
4 8,000
5 8,000
6 5,000
7 3,000
8 $-1,500
To secure the contract, the firm must spend $30,000 to retool its plant. This retooling will have no salvage value at the end of the 8 years. Comparable investment alternatives are available to the firm that earn 12 percent compounded annually. The depreciation tax benefit from the retooling is reflected in the net cash flows in the table.
a. Compute the project's net present value.
b. Should the project be adopted?
c. What is the meaning of the computed net present value figure?
Problem 3: Two mutually exclusive investment projects have the following forecasted cash flows:
Year A B
0 $-20,000 $-20,000
1 10,000 0
2 10,000 0
3 10,000 0
4 10,000 60,000
a. Compute the internal rate of return for each project.
b. Compute the net present value for each project if the firm has a 10 percent cost of capital.
c. Which project should be adopted? Why?
Problem 4: A junior executive is fed up with his boss's operating policies. Before leaving the office of his angered superior, the young man suggests that a well-trained monkey could handle the trivia assigned to him. Pausing a moment to consider the import of this closing statement, the boss is seized by the thought that this must have been in the back of her own mind ever since she hired the junior executive. She decides to consider replacing the executive with a bright young baboon. She figures that she could argue strongly to the board that such "capital deepening" is necessary for the cost-conscious firm. Two days later, a feasibility study is completed, and the following data are presented to the president:
- It would cost $12,000 to purchase and train a reasonably alert baboon with a life expectancy of 20 years.
- Annual expenses of feeding and housing the baboon would be $4,000.
- The junior executive's annual salary is $7,000 (a potential saving if the baboon is hired).
- The baboon will be depreciated on a straight-line basis over 20 years to a zero balance.
- The firm's marginal tax rate is 40 percent.
- The firm's current cost of capital is estimated to be 11 percent.
On the basis of the net present value criterion, should the monkey be hired (and the junior executive fired)?
Problem 5: Note the following information on the annual cash flows of two mutually exclusive projects under consideration by Wang Food Markets, Inc.
Year A B
0 $-30,000 $-60,000
1 10,000 20,000
2 10,000 20,000
3 10,000 20,000
4 10,000 20,000
5 10,000 20,000
Wang requires a 14 percent rate of return on projects of this nature.
a. Compute the NPV of both projects.
b. Compute the internal rate of return on both projects.
c. Compute the profitability index of both projects.
d. Compute the payback period on both projects.
e. Which of the two projects, if either, should Wang accept? Why?
Problem 6: Benford, Inc. is planning to open a new sporting goods store in a suburban mall. Benford will lease the needed space in the mall. Equipment and fixtures for the store will cost $200,000 and be depreciated over a 5-year period on a traight-line basis to $0. The new store will require Benford to increase its net working capital by $200,000 at time 0; thereafter, net working capital balances are expected to equal 20 percent of the following year's sales. First-year sales are expected to be $1 million and to increase at an annual rate of 8 percent over the expected 10-year life of the store. Operating expenses (including lease payments and excluding depreciation) are projected to equal 70 percent of sales. The salvage value of the store's equipment and fixtures is anticipated to be $10,000 at the end of 10 years. Benford's marginal tax rate is 40 percent.
a. Calculate the store's net present value, using an 18 percent required return.
b. Should Benford accept the project?
c. Calculate the store's internal rate of return.
d. Calculate the store's profitability index.
Also complete the following Evaluating Risk Problem:
Problem 7: Consider a 2-year project with the following information: initial fixed asset investment = $495,000; straight-line depreciation to zero over the 2-year life; zero salvage value; selling price =$39; variable costs = $20; fixed costs = $210,000; quantity sold = 150,000 units; tax rate = 31 percent. How sensitive is Operating Cash Flow (OCF) to changes in quantity sold? State your answer in terms of a dollar amount change (increase or decrease) in OCF for every additional unit sold.