Consider the following historical rate of return series:
(a) What was IBM's equity beta over this sample period?
(b) If IBM had a debt/equity ratio of 70%, what was its asset beta? (Hint: To determine a D/A ratio, make up an example in which a firm has a 70% D/E ratio.)
(c) How important is the 1992 observation to your beta estimate?
(d) If HP is similar to IBM in its business but has a debt/equity ratio of 10%, what would you expect HP's levered equity beta to be? (Hint: Use the same leverage conversion trick.)