Because learning changes everything.

Corporate Finance Thirteenth Edition

Stephen A. Ross / Randolph W. Westerfield / Jeffrey F. Jaffe /
Bradford D. Jordan

Chapter 5

Net Present Value and Other Investment Rules

© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
 Key Concepts and Skills
• Be able to compute payback and discounted payback and
understand their shortcomings.
• Be able to compute the internal rate of return and
profitability index, understanding the strengths and
weaknesses of both approaches.
• Be able to compute net present value and understand why
it is the best decision criterion.

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 Chapter Outline
5.1 Why Use Net Present Value?
5.2 The Payback Period Method
5.3 The Discounted Payback Period Method
5.4 The Internal Rate of Return
5.5 Problems with the IRR Approach
5.6 The Profitability Index
5.7 The Practice of Capital Budgeting

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 5.1 Why Use Net Present Value?
Accepting positive NPV projects benefits stockholders.
• NPV uses cash flows.
• NPV uses all the cash flows of the project.
• NPV discounts the cash flows properly.

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 The Net Present Value (NPV) Rule
Net present value (NPV) = Total PV of future CFs + Initial
investment
Estimating NPV:

1. Estimate future cash flows: How much? And when?

2. Estimate discount rate.
3. Estimate initial costs.
Minimum acceptance criteria: Accept if NPV > 0
Ranking criteria: Choose the highest NPV

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 Calculating NPV with Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are an excellent way to compute NPVs, especially when
you have to compute the cash flows as well.
Using the NPV function:
• The first component is the required return entered as a decimal.
• The second component is the range of cash flows beginning with Year
1.
• Add the initial investment after computing the NPV.

Year 0 1 2 3
Cash Flows −$165,000 $63,120 $70,800 $91,080
Required Return .12
NPV—Incorrect $11,274.48
NPV—Correct $12,627.41

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 5.2 The Payback Period Method
How long does it take the project to “pay back” its initial
investment?
Payback Period = number of years to recover initial costs
Minimum Acceptance Criteria:
• Set by management.

Ranking Criteria:
• Set by management.

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 The Payback Period Method
Disadvantages:
• Ignores the time value of money.
• Ignores cash flows after the payback period.
• Biased against long-term projects.
• Requires an arbitrary acceptance criteria.
• A project accepted based on the payback criteria may not
have a positive NPV.
Advantages:
• Easy to understand.
• Biased toward liquidity.

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 5.3 The Discounted Payback Period
How long does it take the project to “pay back” its initial
investment, taking the time value of money into account?
Decision rule: Accept the project if it pays back on a
discounted basis within the specified time.
By the time you have discounted the cash flows, you might
as well calculate the NPV.
Example:

The discounted payback period is 2.88 years.

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 5.4 The Internal Rate of Return
IRR: the discount rate that sets NPV to zero
Minimum Acceptance Criteria:
• Accept if the IRR exceeds the required return.

Ranking Criteria:
• Select alternative with the highest IRR.
Reinvestment assumption:
• All future cash flows are assumed to be reinvested at the
IRR.

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 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Disadvantages:
• Does not distinguish between investing and borrowing.
• IRR may not exist, or there may be multiple IRRs.
• Problems with mutually exclusive investments.
Advantages:
• Easy to understand and communicate.

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 IRR: Example
Consider the following project:

The internal rate of return for this project is 19.44 percent.

$50 $100 $150

NPV = 0 = −$200 + + +
(1 + IRR ) (1 + IRR ) (1 + IRR )3
2

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 NPV Payoff Profile
If we graph NPV versus the discount rate, we can see the IRR
as the x-axis intercept.
0% $100.00
4% 73.88
8% 51.11
12% 31.13
16% 13.52
20% −2.08
24% −15.97
28% −28.38
32% −39.51
36% −49.54
40% −58.60
44% −66.82

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 Calculating IRR with Spreadsheets
You start with the same cash flows as you did for the NPV.
You use the IRR function:
• You first enter your range of cash flows, beginning with the initial cash
flow.
• You can enter a guess, but it is not necessary.
• The default format is a whole percent—you will normally want to
increase the decimal places to at least two.

Year 0 1 2 3
Cash Flows −$165,000 $63,120 $70,800 $91,080
Required Return .12
NPV—Incorrect $11,274.48
NPV—Correct $12,627.41
IRR 16% 16.13%
Default Format

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 5.5 Problems with IRR
Multiple IRRs
Are We Borrowing or Lending?
The Scale Problem
The Timing Problem

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 Mutually Exclusive versus Independent
Independent projects: accepting or rejecting one project does
not affect the decision of the other projects.
• Must exceed a MINIMUM acceptance criteria.
Mutually exclusive projects: only ONE of several potential
projects can be chosen, e.g., acquiring an accounting
system.
• RANK all alternatives, and select the best one.

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 Multiple IRRs
There are two IRRs for this project:

Which one
should we use?

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 Are We Borrowing or Lending?

Taking on Project A is equivalent to lending at 30%.

=> The firm should accept Project A if the lending rate is
below 30%.
Taking on Project B is equivalent to borrowing at 30%.
=> Project B will be accepted if and only if the discount rate
is above the IRR.
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 Modified IRR
Project D has the following cashflow (-$60, $155, -$100)
Method 1: Discounting approach
discount all negative cash flows back to the present at the
required return and add them to the initial cost.

If the required return on the project is 20 percent, then the

modified cash flows:

MIRR = 19.74%

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 Modified IRR
Project D has the following cashflow (-$60, $155, -$100)
Method 2: Reinvestment approach
compound all cash flows (positive and negative), except the
first, out to the end of the project's life.

If the required return on the project is 20 percent, then the

modified cash flows:

MIRR = 19.72%

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 Modified IRR
Project D has the following cashflow (-$60, $155, -$100)
Method 3: Combination approach
blend the first two methods

If the required return on the project is 20 percent, then the

modified cash flows:

MIRR = 19.87%

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 The Scale Problem
Would you rather make 100 percent or 50 percent on your
investments?
What if the 100 percent return is on a $1 investment, while
the 50 percent return is on a $1,000 investment?

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 The Timing Problem - I

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 The Timing Problem - II

Access the text alternative for slide images

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 Calculating the Crossover Rate
Compute the IRR for either Project A minus B or B minus A
Year Project A Project B Project A-B Project B-A

0 −$10,000 −$10,000 $0 $0

1 10,000 1,000 9,000 −9,000,00

2 1,000 1,000 0 0

3 1,000 12,000 −11,000,00 11,000

Access the text alternative for slide images

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 NPV versus IRR
NPV and IRR will generally give the same decision.
Exceptions:
Nonconventional cash flows—cash flow signs change more
than once.
Mutually exclusive projects.
• Initial investments are substantially different.
• Timing of cash flows is substantially different.

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 5.6 The Profitability Index

PV of cash flows subsequent to initial investment

PI =
Initial investment

Minimum Acceptance Criteria:

• Accept if PI > 1

Ranking Criteria:
• Select alternative with highest PI.

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 The Profitability Index (PI)
Disadvantages:
• Problems with mutually exclusive investments.
Advantages:
• May be useful when available investment funds are limited.
• Easy to understand and communicate.
• Correct decision when evaluating independent projects.

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 5.7 The Practice of Capital Budgeting
Varies by industry:
• Some firms may use payback, while others choose an
alternative approach.
The most frequently used technique for large corporations is
either IRR or NPV.

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 Example of Investment Rules – I
Compute the IRR, NPV, PI, and payback period for the
following two projects. Assume the required return is 10
percent.
Year Project A Project B
0 −$200 −$150
1 200 50
2 800 100
3 −800 150

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 Example of Investment Rules - II

Project A Project B
C F0 −$200.00 −$150.00
PV0 of CF1−3 $241.92 $240.80
NPV = $41.92 $90.80
I RR = 0%, 100% 36.19%
PI = 1.2096 1.6053

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 Example of Investment Rules - III
Payback Period:

Time Project A Project A Project B Project B

CF Cum. CF CF Cum. CF
0 −$200 −$200 −$150 −$150
1 200 0 50 −100
2 800 800 100 0
3 −800 0 150 150

Payback period for Project B = 2 years.

Payback period for Project A = 1 or 3 years?

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 NPV and IRR Relationship

Discount rate NPV for A NPV for B

−10% −$87.52 $234.77
0% 0 150.00
20% 59.26 47.92
40% 59.48 −8.60
60% 42.19 −43.07
80% 20.85 −65.64
100% 0.00 −81.25
120% −18.93 −92.52

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 NPV Profiles

Access the text alternative for slide images

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 Summary—Discounted Cash Flow
Net present value
• Difference between market value and cost.
• Accept the project if the NPV is positive.
• Has no serious problems.
• Preferred decision criterion.

Internal rate of return

• Discount rate that makes NPV = 0.
• Take the project if the IRR is greater than the required return.
• Same decision as NPV with conventional cash flows.
• IRR is unreliable with nonconventional cash flows or mutually exclusive projects.

Profitability Index
• Benefit-cost ratio.
• Take investment if PI > 1.
• Cannot be used to rank mutually exclusive projects.
• May be used to rank projects in the presence of capital rationing.

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 Summary—Payback Criteria
Payback period
• Length of time until initial investment is recovered.
• Take the project if it pays back in some specified period.
• Does not account for time value of money, and there is an
arbitrary cutoff period.
Discounted payback period
• Length of time until initial investment is recovered on a
discounted basis.
• Take the project if it pays back in some specified period.
• There is an arbitrary cutoff period.

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 Quick Quiz
Consider an investment that costs $100,000 and has a cash
inflow of $25,000 every year for 5 years. The required return
is 9 percent, and payback cutoff is 4 years.
• What is the payback period?
• What is the discounted payback period?
• What is the NPV?
• What is the IRR?
• Should we accept the project?
What method should be the primary decision rule?
When is the IRR rule unreliable?

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© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.