Chapter 9

Cost of Capital

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Learning Goals
LG1

Understand the basic concept and sources of

capital associated with the cost of capital.

LG2

Explain what is meant by the marginal cost of

capital.

LG3

Determine the cost of long-term debt, and

explain why the after-tax cost of debt is the
relevant cost of debt.

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Learning Goals (cont.)

LG4

Determine the cost of preferred stock.

LG5

Calculate the cost of common stock equity, and

convert it into the cost of retained earnings and
the cost of new issues of common stock.

LG6

Calculate the weighted average cost of capital

(WACC) and discuss alternative weighting
schemes.

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Overview of the Cost of Capital

The cost of capital represents the firms cost of
financing, and is the minimum rate of return that a
project must earn to increase firm value.
Financial managers are ethically bound to only invest in
projects that they expect to exceed the cost of capital.
The cost of capital reflects the entirety of the firms
financing activities.

Most firms attempt to maintain an optimal mix of

debt and equity financing.
To capture all of the relevant financing costs, assuming
some desired mix of financing, we need to look at the
overall cost of capital rather than just the cost of any
single source of financing.
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Overview of the Cost of Capital (cont.)

A firm is currently faced with two investment
opportunities. Assume the following:
Investment A
Cost = $100,000
Life = 20 years
Expected Return = 7%

Least costly financing source available

Debt (bonds) = 6%

Because the firm can earn 7% on the investment

of funds costing only 6%, the analyst
recommends that the firm undertake this
investment.

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Overview of the Cost of Capital (cont.)

Investment B
Cost = $100,000
Life = 20 years
Expected Return = 12%

Least costly financing source available

Equity = 14%

In this instance, the analyst recommends that

the firm reject the opportunity, because the 14%
financing cost is greater than the 12% expected
return.

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Overview of the Cost of Capital (cont.)

What if instead the firm used a combined cost of
financing?
Assuming that a 5050 mix of debt and equity is targeted,
the weighted average cost here would be:
(0.50 6% debt) + (0.50 14% equity) = 10%
With this average cost of financing, the first opportunity
would have been rejected (7% expected return < 10%
weighted average cost), and the second would have been
accepted
(12% expected return > 10% weighted average cost).

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Focus on Ethics
The Ethics of Profit
Introduced in 1999, Vioxx was an immediate success,
quickly reaching $2.5 billion in annual sales.
However, a Merck study launched in 1999 eventually found
that patients who took Vioxx suffered from an increased
risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Despite the risks, Merck continued to market and sell
Vioxx.
Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2006, dealing a
severe blow to the firms reputation, profits, and stock
price.
The Vioxx recall increased Mercks cost of capital. What effect
would an increased cost of capital have on a firms future
investments?

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Overview of the Cost of Capital:

Sources of Long-Term Capital

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Cost of Long-Term Debt

The pretax cost of debt is the financing cost
associated with new funds through long-term
borrowing.

Typically, the funds are raised through the sale of

corporate bonds.

Net proceeds are the funds actually received by the

firm from the sale of a security.
Flotation costs are the total costs of issuing and
selling a security. They include two components:
1. Underwriting costscompensation earned by investment
bankers for selling the security.
2. Administrative costsissuer expenses such as legal,
accounting, and printing.
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Cost of Long-Term Debt (cont.)

Duchess Corporation, a major hardware manufacturer,
is contemplating selling $10 million worth of 20-year,
9% coupon bonds with a par value of $1,000.
Because current market interest rates are greater
than 9%, the firm must sell the bonds at $980.
Flotation costs are 2% or $20. The net proceeds to
the firm for each bond is therefore $960
($980 $20).

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Cost of Long-Term Debt (cont.)

The before-tax cost of debt, rd, is simply the rate of
return the firm must pay on new borrowing.
The before-tax cost of debt can be calculated in any
one of three ways:
1. Using market quotations: observe the yield to maturity
(YTM) on the firms existing bonds or bonds of similar
risk issued by other companies
2. Calculating the cost: find the before-tax cost of debt by
calculating the YTM generated by the bond cash flows
3. Approximating the cost

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Cost of Long-Term Debt (cont.)

The cash flows associated with the sale of Duchess
Corporations bond issue are as follows:

We can determine the cost of debt by finding the YTM,

which is the discount rate that equates the present
value of the bond outflows to the initial outflow.

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Cost of Long-Term Debt (cont.)

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Cost of Long-Term Debt (cont.)

Approximating the cost

where

I = annual interest in dollars

Nd = net proceeds from the sale of debt (bond)
n = number of years to the bonds maturity
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Cost of Long-Term Debt (cont.)

Approximating the cost

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Cost of Long-Term Debt:

After-Tax Cost of Debt
The interest payments paid to bondholders are tax
deductable for the firm, so the interest expense on
debt reduces the firms taxable income and,
therefore, the firms tax liability.
The after-tax cost of debt, ri, can be found by
multiplying the before-tax cost, rd, by 1 minus the
tax rate, T, as stated in the following equation:
ri = rd (1 T)

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Cost of Long-Term Debt:

After-Tax Cost of Debt (cont.)
Duchess Corporation has a 40% tax rate. Using the
9.452% before-tax debt cost calculated using Excel or
a financial calculator, we find an after-tax cost of debt
of 5.67% [9.452% (1 0.40)].
Typically, the cost of long-term debt for a given firm is
less than the cost of preferred or common stock,
partly because of the tax deductibility of interest.

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Personal Finance Example

Kait and Kasim Sullivan, a married couple in the 28%
federal income-tax bracket, wish to borrow $60,000 for
a new car.
They can either borrow the $60,000 through the auto dealer
at an annual interest rate of 6.0%, or they can take a
$60,000 second mortgage on their home at an annual interest
rate of 7.2%.
If they borrow from the auto dealer, the interest on this
consumer loan will not be deductible for federal tax
purposes. However, the interest on the second mortgage
would be tax-deductible because the tax law allows individuals
to deduct interest paid on a home mortgage.
Because interest on the auto loan is not tax-deductible, its
after-tax cost equals its stated cost of 6.0%.
Because interest on the auto loan is tax-deductible, its aftertax cost equals its stated cost of 7.2% (1 0.28) = 5.2%.

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Cost of Preferred Stock

Preferred stock gives preferred stockholders the
right to receive their stated dividends before the
firm can distribute any earnings to common
stockholders.
Preferred stock dividends may be stated as a dollar
amount.
Sometimes preferred stock dividends are stated as an
annual percentage rate, which represents the percentage
of the stocks par, or face, value that equals the annual
dividend.

The cost of preferred stock, rp, is the ratio of the

preferred stock dividend to the firms net proceeds
from the sale of preferred stock.

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Cost of Preferred Stock (cont.)

Duchess Corporation is contemplating the issuance of
a 10% preferred stock that they expect to sell for $87
per share. The cost of issuing and selling the stock is
expected to be $5 per share. The dividend is $8.70
(10% $87). The net proceeds (Np) equal $82 ($87
$5), the share price less the flotation costs. The cost
of Duchess preferred stock is:
rP = DP/Np = $8.70/$82 = 10.6%

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Cost of Common Stock

The cost of common stock is the return required on
the stock by investors in the marketplace.
There are two forms of common stock financing:
1. retained earnings
2. new issues of common stock

The cost of common stock equity, rs, is the rate

at which investors discount the expected dividends
of the firm to determine its share value.

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

The constant-growth valuation (Gordon) model assumes
that the value of a share of stock equals the present value of all
future dividends (assumed to grow at a constant rate) that it is
expected to provide over an infinite time horizon.

where

P0 = value of common stock

D1 = per-share dividend expected at the end of year 1
rs = required return on common stock
g = constant rate of growth in dividends
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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

Solving for rs results in the following expression for
the cost of common stock equity:

The equation indicates that the cost of common stock

equity can be found by dividing the dividend expected
at the end of year 1 by the current market price of
the stock (the dividend yield) and adding the
expected growth rate (the capital gains yield).

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

Duchess Corporation wishes to
determine its cost of common stock
equity, rs. The market price, P0, of its
common stock is $50 per share. The
firm expects to pay a dividend, D1,
of $4 at the end of the coming year,
2016. The dividends paid on the
outstanding stock over the past 6
years (20102015) were as follows:

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

We can calculate the annual rate at which dividends
have grown, g, from 2007 to 2012. It turns out to be
approximately 5% (more precisely, it is 5.05%).
Substituting D1 = $4, P0 = $50, and g = 5% into the
previous equation yields the cost of common stock
equity:
rs = ($4/$50) + 0.05 = 0.08 + 0.05 = 0.130, or 13.0%

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) describes
the relationship between the required return, rs, and
the nondiversifiable risk of the firm as measured by
the beta coefficient, b.
rs = RF + [b (rm RF)]
where
RF = risk-free rate of return
rm = market return; return on the market portfolio of
assets

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

Duchess Corporation now wishes to calculate its cost
of common stock equity, rs, by using the capital asset
pricing model. The firms investment advisors and its
own analysts indicate that the risk-free rate, RF,
equals 7%; the firms beta, b, equals 1.5; and the
market return, rm, equals 11%.
Substituting these values into the CAPM, the company
estimates the cost of common stock equity, rs, to be:
rs = 7.0% + [1.5 (11.0% 7.0%)] = 7.0% + 6.0% = 13.0%

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

The CAPM technique differs from the constantgrowth valuation model in that it directly considers
the firms risk, as reflected by beta, in determining
the required return or cost of common stock equity.
The constant-growth model does not look at risk; it
uses the market price, P0, as a reflection of the
expected riskreturn preference of investors in the
marketplace.
The constant-growth valuation and CAPM
techniques for finding rs are theoretically
equivalent, though in practice estimates from the
two methods do not always agree.

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Cost of Common Stock (cont.)

Another difference is that when the constantgrowth valuation model is used to find the cost of
common stock equity, it can easily be adjusted for
flotation costs to find the cost of new common
stock; the CAPM does not provide a simple
adjustment mechanism.
The difficulty in adjusting the cost of common stock
equity calculated by using CAPM occurs because in
its common form the model does not include the
market price, P0, a variable needed to make such
an adjustment.

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Cost of Common Stock:

Cost of Retained Earnings
The cost of retained earnings, rr, is the same as
the cost of an equivalent fully subscribed issue of
additional common stock, which is equal to the cost of
common stock equity, rs.
rr = rs
The cost of retained earnings for Duchess Corporation
was actually calculated in the preceding examples: It
is equal to the cost of common stock equity. Thus rr
equals 13.0%.

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Matter of Fact
Retained Earnings, the Preferred Source of Financing
In the United States and most other countries,
firms rely more heavily on retained earnings than
any other source of financing.
For example, a 2013 survey of Chinese firms
found that 64% of the companies surveyed listed
retained earnings as one of their primary sources
of funds.
Bank loans were a distant second choice,
mentioned as a primary source of funds by just
44% of companies.

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Cost of Common Stock: Cost of New

Issues of Common Stock
The cost of a new issue of common stock, rn, is
the cost of common stock, net of underpricing and
associated flotation costs.
New shares are underpriced if the stock is sold at
a price below its current market price, P0.

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Cost of Common Stock: Cost of New

Issues of Common Stock (cont.)
We can use the constant-growth valuation model
expression for the cost of existing common stock, rs,
as a starting point. If we let Nn represent the net
proceeds from the sale of new common stock after
subtracting underpricing and flotation costs, the cost
of the new issue, rn, can be expressed as follows:

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Cost of Common Stock: Cost of New

Issues of Common Stock (cont.)
The net proceeds from sale of new common stock,
Nn, will be less than the current market price, P0.
Therefore, the cost of new issues, rn, will always be
greater than the cost of existing issues, rs, which is
equal to the cost of retained earnings, rr.
The cost of new common stock is normally greater
than any other long-term financing cost.

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Cost of Common Stock: Cost of New

Issues of Common Stock (cont.)
Duchess Corporation common stock is currently
selling at $50 per share. To determine its cost of new
common stock, rn, Duchess Corporation has estimated
that on average, new shares can be sold for $47. The
$3-per-share underpricing is due to the competitive
nature of the market. A second cost associated with a
new issue is flotation costs of $2.50 per share that
would be paid to issue and sell the new shares. The
total underpricing and flotation costs per share are
therefore $5.50.
rn = ($4.00/$44.50) + 0.05 = 0.09 + 0.05 = 0.140,
or 14.0%

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Weighted Average Cost of Capital

The weighted average cost of capital (WACC), ra,
reflects the expected average future cost of capital
over the long run; found by weighting the cost of
each specific type of capital by its proportion in the
firms capital structure.
ra = (wi ri) + (wp rp) + (ws rr or n)
where

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Weighted Average Cost of Capital (cont.)

Three important points should be noted in the
equation for ra:
1. For computational convenience, it is best to convert the
weights into decimal form and leave the individual costs in
percentage terms.
2. The weights must be non-negative and sum to 1.0. Simply
stated, WACC must account for all financing costs within
the firms capital structure.
3. The firms common stock equity weight, ws, is multiplied
by either the cost of retained earnings, rr, or the cost of
new common stock, rn. Which cost is used depends on
whether the firms common stock equity will be financed
using retained earnings, rr, or new common stock, rn.

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Weighted Average Cost of Capital (cont.)

In earlier examples, we found the costs of the various
types of capital for Duchess Corporation to be as
follows:

Cost
Cost
Cost
Cost

of
of
of
of

debt, ri = 5.6%
preferred stock, rp = 10.6%
retained earnings, rr = 13.0%
new common stock, rn = 14.0%

The company uses the following weights in calculating

its weighted average cost of capital:
Long-term debt = 40%
Preferred stock = 10%
Common stock equity = 50%

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Calculation of the Weighted Average Cost

of Capital for Duchess Corporation
Table 9.1 Calculation of the Weighted Average Cost
of Capital for Duchess Corporation

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Focus on Practice
Uncertain Times Make for an Uncertain Weighted Average Cost of
Capital
As U.S. financial markets experienced and recovered from the
2008 financial crisis and 2009 great recession, firms struggled
to keep track of their weighted average cost of capital since the
individual component costs were moving rapidly in response to
the financial market turmoil.
The financial crisis pushed credit costs to a point where long-term
debt was largely inaccessible, and the great recession saw
Treasury bond yields fall to historic lows making cost of equity
projections appear unreasonably low.
Ron Domanico is the CFO at Caraustar Industries, Inc. and he
reported that his company dealt with the cost-of-capital
uncertainty by abandoning the one-size-fits-all approach.
Why dont firms generally use both a short and long-run weighted
average cost of capital?

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Weighted Average Cost of Capital:

Weighting Schemes
Book Value versus Market Value:
Book value weights are weights that use accounting
values to measure the proportion of each type of capital in
the firms financial structure.
Market value weights are weights that use market values
to measure the proportion of each type of capital in the
firms financial structure.

Historical versus Target:

Historical weights are either book or market value weights
based on actual capital structure proportions.
Target weights are either book or market value weights
based on desired capital structure proportions.

From a strictly theoretical point of view, the

preferred weighting scheme is target market value
proportions.
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Personal Finance Example

Chuck Solis currently has three loans outstanding, all
of which mature in exactly 6 years and can be repaid
without penalty any time prior to maturity. The
outstanding balances and annual interest rates on
these loans are noted below.

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Personal Finance Example (cont.)

Chuck found a lender who would loan him $80,000 for
6 years at an annual interest rate 9.2% on the
condition that the loan proceeds be used to fully
repay the three outstanding loans, which combined
have an outstanding balance of $80,000 ($26,000 +
$9,000 + $45,000).
Chuck wishes to choose the least costly alternative:
(1) do nothing or (2) borrow the $80,000 and pay off
all three loans.

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Personal Finance Example (cont.)

Chuck calculates the weighted average cost of his current debt
by weighting each debts annual interest cost by the proportion
of the $80,000 total it represents and then summing the three
weighted values as follows:
= [($26,000/$80,000) 9.6%] + [($9,000/$80,000) 10.6%]
+ [($45,000/$80,000) 7.4%]
= (.3250 9.6%) + (.1125 10.6%) + (.5625 7.4%)
= 3.12% + 1.19% + 4.16% = 8.47% 8.5%
Given that the weighted average cost of the $80,000 of current
debt of 8.5% is below the 9.2% cost of the new $80,000 loan,
Chuck should do nothing and just continue to pay off the three
loans as originally scheduled.
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Review of Learning Goals

LG1

Understand the basic concept and sources of

capital associated with the cost of capital.
The cost of capital is the minimum rate of return that
a firm must earn on its investments to grow firm
value. A weighted average cost of capital should be
used to find the expected average future cost of funds
over the long run. The individual costs of the basic
sources of capital (long-term debt, preferred stock,
retained earnings, and common stock) can be
calculated separately.

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Review of Learning Goals (cont.)

LG2

Explain what is meant by the marginal cost of

capital.
The relevant cost of capital for a firm is the marginal
cost of capital necessary to raise the next marginal
dollar of financing the firms future investment
opportunities. A firms future investment opportunities
in expectation will be required to exceed the firms
cost of capital.

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Review of Learning Goals (cont.)

LG3

Determine the cost of long-term debt, and

explain why the after-tax cost of debt is the
relevant cost of debt.
The before-tax cost of long-term debt can be found by
using cost quotations, calculations, or an
approximation. The after-tax cost of debt is calculated
by multiplying the before-tax cost of debt by 1 minus
the tax rate. The after-tax cost of debt is the relevant
cost of debt because it is the lowest possible cost of
debt for the firm due to the deductibility of interest
expenses.

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Review of Learning Goals (cont.)

LG4

Determine the cost of preferred stock.

The cost of preferred stock is the ratio of the preferred
stock dividend to the firms net proceeds from the sale
of preferred stock.

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Review of Learning Goals (cont.)

LG5

Calculate the cost of common stock equity, and

convert it into the cost of retained earnings and
the cost of new issues of common stock.
The cost of common stock equity can be calculated by
using the constant-growth valuation (Gordon) model
or the CAPM. The cost of retained earnings is equal to
the cost of common stock equity. An adjustment in the
cost of common stock equity to reflect underpricing
and flotation costs is necessary to find the cost of new
issues of common stock.

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Review of Learning Goals (cont.)

LG6

Calculate the weighted average cost of capital

(WACC) and discuss alternative weighting
schemes.
The firms WACC reflects the expected average future
cost of funds over the long run. It combines the costs
of specific types of capital after weighting each of
them by its proportion. The theoretically preferred
approach uses target weights based on market values.

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Chapter Resources on MyFinanceLab

Chapter Cases
Group Exercises
Critical Thinking Problems

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Integrative Case: Eco Plastics Company

The target capital structure for ECO is given
by the weights in the following table:

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Integrative Case: Eco Plastics Company

Eco can raise debt by selling 20-year bonds with a
$1,000 par value and a 10.5% annual coupon interest
rate.
Ecos corporate tax rate is 40% and its bonds generally
require an average discount of $45 per bond and
flotation costs of $32 per bond when being sold.
Ecos outstanding preferred stock pays a 9% dividend
and has a $95-per-share par value. The cost of issuing
and selling additional preferred stock is expected to be
$7 per share.
Eco does not currently pay a dividend to common
stockholders.

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Integrative Case: Eco Plastics Company

In order to track the cost of common stock the CFO uses the
capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The CFO and the firms
investment advisors believe that the appropriate risk-free rate
is 4% and that the markets expected return equals 13%.
Using data from 2012 through 2015, Ecos CFO estimates the
firms beta to be 1.3.
Although Ecos current target capital structure includes 20%
preferred stock, the company is considering using debt
financing to retire the outstanding preferred stock, thus
shifting their target capital structure to 50% long-term debt
and 50% common stock.
If Eco shifts its capital mix from preferred stock to debt, its
financial advisors expect its beta to increase to 1.5.

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Integrative Case: Eco Plastics Company

(cont.)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Calculate Ecos current after-tax cost of long-term debt.

Calculate Ecos current cost of preferred stock.
Calculate Ecos current cost of common stock.
Calculate Ecos current weighted average cost capital.
(1) Assuming that the debt financing costs do not change,
what effect would a shift to a more highly leveraged
capital structure consisting of 50% long-term debt, 0%
preferred stock, and 50% common stock have on the risk
premium for Ecos common stock? What would be Ecos
new cost of common equity?
(2) What would be Ecos new weighted average cost of
capital?
(3) Which capital structurethe original one or this one
seems better? Why?

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