Chapter 18 - Financial Analysis

CHAPTER 18

Financial Analysis

Answers to Problem Sets

1.

$ thousands / $ thousands
Cash / 25 / Accounts payable / 24
Accounts receivable / 35 / Total current liabilities / 24
Inventories / 30 / Long-term debt / 130
Total current assets / 90 / Equity / 75
Net plant & equipment / 140
Total assets / 230 / Total liabilities & equity / 230

2 a. ROA = (((1 - .35) x 67 + 474)/4,126 = .125, or 12.5%

b. Operating profit margin = ((1 - .35) x 67 + 474)/ 7,911 = .065, or 6.5%

c. Sales-to-assets = 7,911/ 4,126 = 1.9

d. Inventory turnover = 1,997/ 856 = 2.3

e. Debt-to-equity ratio = 1,078/ 1,653 = .65

f. Current ratio = 2,787/ 1,699 = 1.64

g. Quick ratio = (402 + 1,034)/ 1,699 = .85


3.

COMMON-SIZE BALANCE SHEET, 2008
% / %
Cash & marketable securities / 8.0 / Debt due for repayment / 2.4
Accounts receivable / 20.6 / Accounts payable / 31.6
Inventories / 19.7 / Total current liabilities / 33.9
Other current assets / 7.2 / Long-term debt / 21.5
Total current assets / 55.6 / Other long-term liabilities / 11.6
Tangible fixed assets / 47.8 / Total liabilities / 67.0
Less accumulated depreciation / 27.0 / Total shareholders’ equity / 33.0
Net tangible fixed assets / 20.8
Long-term investments / .5
Other long-term assets / 23.1
Total assets / 100 / Total liabilities & shareholders’ equity / 100
COMMON-SIZE INCOME STATEMENT, 2008
Sales / 100%
Cost of goods sold / 25.2
Selling, general and administrative expenses / 61.3
Depreciation / 3.2
Earnings before interest & taxes / 10.3
Interest expense / .9
Taxable income / 9.4
Tax / 3.3
Net income / 6.0

4. a. Market-value-added = 195 x $45.50 - $1,653 = $7,220 million

b. Market-to-book = 195 x $45.50 / $1,653 = 5.4

c. EVA = [(1-.35) x 67 +474] – [.10 x (1,078 + 1,653)] = $177.7 million

d. ROC = [(1-.35) x 67 +474] / (1,078 + 1,653) = .190, or 19.0%

5. The illogical ratios are a, b, c, f, and i. The correct definitions are:

6. a. False

b. True

c. False

d. False

e. False—it will tend to increase the price–earnings multiple.

7. a. Sales = 3 X 500,000 = 1,500,000; after-tax interest + net income = .08 X

1,500,000 = 120,000; ROA = 120,000/500,000 = 24%

b.  Net income = .08 X 3 X 500,000 – (1- .35) X 30,000 = 100,500; ROE = net

income/ equity = 100,500/300,000 = .34

8. .25.

9. .73.; 3.65%

10. a. 1.47

b. Net working capital = 40. Total capitalization = 540. Debt to total

capitalization = .52.

11. Assume that new debt is current liability.

a. Current ratio goes from 100/60 = 1.67 to 120/80 = 1.50; cash ratio goes

from 30/60 = .5 to 50/80 = .63

b. Long-term debt ratio is unchanged; total liabilities/total assets goes from

410/600 = .6833 to 430/620 = .6935

12. $10 million.

13. $82 million

.

14. a. The following are examples of items that may not be shown on the company’s books: intangible assets, off-balance sheet debt, pension assets and liabilities (if the pension plan has a surplus), derivatives positions.

b.  The value of intangible assets generally does not show up on the company’s balance sheet. This affects accounting rates of return because book assets are too low. It can also make debt ratios seem high, again because assets are undervalued. Research and development expenditures are generally recorded as expenses rather than assets, thereby understating income and understating assets. Patents and trademarks, which can be extremely valuable assets, are not recorded as assets unless they are acquired from another company.

15. As discussed in Section 21-3, there are many different ways to measure a firm’s overall performance. Some of the financial metrics include:

Market value added – the difference between the amount of money shareholders have invested in the firm and current market capitalization of equity.

Market-to-book ratio – the market value of equity divided by book value of equity. This ratio gives us a common-size basis for comparing smaller and larger firms.

Economic value added – the profit for the firm after the cost of capital is deducted.

Return on capital – the total profits available for all investors (equity and debt-holders) divided by the amount of money invested in the firm.

Return on equity – the net income divided by equity

Return on assets – (after tax interest plus net income) divided by total assets

Each of these measures has its advantages, depending on the goal of the analysis. EVA and the rates of return show current performance and are not impacted by expectations of future events that are measured in current market prices. The potential downside of these metrics is that they are grounded in book value and balance sheet figures that may not reflect economic reality accurately.

In all cases we may wish to compare recent performance with historical firm performance and with contemporary performance of comparable firms in order to judge whether performance was satisfactory.

16. The answer, as in all questions pertaining to financial ratios, is, “It depends on what you want to use the measure for.” For most purposes, a financial manager is concerned with the market value of the assets supporting the debt, but, since intangible assets may be worthless in the event of financial distress, the use of book values may be an acceptable proxy. You may need to look at the market value of debt, e.g., when calculating the weighted average cost of capital. However, if you are concerned with, say, probability of default, you are interested in what a firm has promised to pay, not necessarily in what investors think that promise is worth.

Looking at the face value of debt may be misleading when comparing firms with debt having different maturities. After all, a certain payment of $1,000 ten years from now is worth less than a certain payment of $1,000 next year. Therefore, if the information is available, it may be helpful to discount face value at the risk-free rate, i.e., calculate the present value of the exercise price on the option to default. (Merton refers to this measure as the quasi-debt ratio.)

You should not exclude items just because they are off-balance-sheet, but you need to recognize that there may be other offsetting off-balance-sheet items, e.g., the pension fund.

How you treat preferred stock depends upon what you are trying to measure. Preferred stock is largely a fixed charge that accentuates the risk of the common stock. On the other hand, as far as lenders are concerned, preferred stock is a junior claim on firm assets.

17. Times-interest earned equals EBIT / interest payments. With the interest rate decrease, interest payments will drop on the floating debt. The smaller denominator thus causes an increase in the times-interest earned ratio.

The market value of the fixed-rate debt will increase with the decline in interest rates. This will cause the ratio of market value of debt to equity to increase, giving the appearance of greater leverage. Of course the firm’s capital structure has not changed, suggesting an advantage of using book values for debt ratios.

18. The effect on the current ratio of the following transactions:

a.  Inventory is sold Þ no effect

b.  The firm takes out a bank loan to pay its suppliers Þ no effect

c.  The firm arranges a line of credit Þ no effect

d.  A customer pays its overdue bills Þ no effect

e.  The firm uses cash to purchase additional inventories Þ no effect

19. After the merger, sales will be $100, assets will be $70, and profit will be $14. The financial ratios for the firms are:

Federal Stores / Sara Togas / Merged Firm
Sales-to-Assets / 2.00 / 1.00 / 1.43
Profit Margin / 0.10 / 0.20 / 0.14
ROA / 0.20 / 0.20 / 0.20

Note that the calculation of profit is straightforward in one sense, but in another it is somewhat complicated. Before the merger, Federal’s cost of goods includes the $20 it purchases from Sara, and Sara’s cost of goods sold is: ($20 – $4) = $16

After the merger, therefore, the cost of goods sold will be: ($90 – $20 + $16) = $86

With sales of $100, profit will be $14.

20. Balance Sheet

Total liabilities + Equity = 235 Þ Total assets = 235

Total current liabilities = 30 + 25 = 55

Current ratio = 1.4 Þ Total current assets = 1.4 ´ 55 = 77

Cash ratio = 0.2 Þ Cash = 0.2 ´ 55 = 11

Quick ratio = 1.0 Þ Cash + Accounts receivable = current liabilities = 55 Þ

Accounts receivable = 44

Total current assets = 77 = Cash + Accounts receivable + Inventory Þ


Inventory = 22

Total assets = Total current assets + Fixed assets = 235 Þ Fixed assets = 158

Long-term debt + Equity = 235 – 55 = 180

Debt ratio = 0.4 = Long-term debt/(Long-term debt + Equity) Þ

Long-term debt = 72

Equity = 180 – 72 = 108

Income Statement

Average inventory = (22 + 26)/2 = 24

Inventory turnover = 5.0 = (Cost of goods sold/Average inventory) Þ

Cost of goods sold = 120

Average receivables = (34 + 44)/2 = 39

Receivables’ collection period = 71.2 = Average receivables/(Sales/365) Þ

Sales = 200

EBIT = 200 – 120 – 10 – 20 = 50

Times-interest-earned = 6.25 = (EBIT + Depreciation)/Interest Þ Interest = 11.2

Earnings before tax = 50 – 11.2 = 38.8

Average equity = (108 + 100)/2 = 104

Return on equity = 0.24 = Earnings available for common stock/average equity Þ

Earnings available for common stockholders = 24.96

Tax = Earnings before tax - Earnings available for common stock = 38.8-24.96 Þ 13.84

The result is:

Fixed assets / $158 / Sales / 200.0
Cash / 11 / Cost of goods sold / 120.0
Accounts receivable / 44 / Selling, general, and
Inventory / 22 / Administrative / 10.0
Total current assets / 77 / Depreciation / 20.0
TOTAL / $235 / EBIT / 50.0
Equity / $108 / Interest / 11.20
Long-term debt / 72 / Earnings before tax / 38.80
Notes payable / 30 / Tax / 13.84
Accounts payable / 25 / Available for common / 24.96
Total current liabilities / 55
TOTAL / $235

21. Two obvious choices are:

a. Total industry EBIT over total industry interest payments:

Company / A / B / C / D / E / Total
EBIT / 10 / 30 / 100 / -3.0 / 80 / 217
Interest Pmt / 5 / 15 / 50 / 2 / 1 / 73
EBIT /interest payments = 217/73 = 2.97

b. Average of the individual companies’ ratios:

Company / A / B / C / D / E
EBIT / 10 / 30 / 100 / -3.0 / 80
Interest Pmt / 5 / 15 / 50 / 2 / 1
Times-interest / 2 / 2 / 2 / -1.5 / 80

Average times-interest-earned ratio = 16.9

Clearly, the method of calculation has a substantial impact on the result. The first method is generally preferable. Here, the second method gives too much weight to Company E, which is a large firm with little debt.

22. Rapid inflation distorts virtually every item on a firm’s balance sheet and income statement. For example, inflation affects the value of inventory (and, hence, cost of goods sold), the value of plant and equipment, the value of debt (both long-term and short-term); and so on. Given these distortions, the relevance of the numbers recorded is greatly diminished.

The presence of debt introduces more distortions. As mentioned above, the value of debt is affected, but so is the rate demanded by bondholders, who include the effects of inflation in their lending decisions.

23. All of the financial ratios are likely to be helpful, although to varying degrees. Presumably, those ratios that relate directly to the variability of earnings and the behavior of the stock price have the strongest associations with market risk; likely candidates include the debt-equity ratio and the P/E ratio. Other accounting measures of risk might be devised by taking five-year averages of these ratios.

24. Answers will vary depending on companies and industries chosen.

25. When calculating EVA we should deduct the income tax shield in order to measure the true cost to the firm of raising capital via debt. An alternative approach might be to adjust the cost of capital to account for the tax savings from debt. Simply deducting the cost of equity from net income will not lead to the correct answer if the after-tax cost of debt differs significantly from the cost of equity—and if the firm has issued a meaningful amount of debt.

26. Recall that return on capital (ROC) equals the total profits earned for debt and equity investors divided by the amount of money contributed. It is calculated as (after-tax interest + net income) / total capital.

Using an average of capital at the start and end of the year for the denominator will produce a reasonable result if the firm actively increases or reduces capital over the year in a manner consistent with past practices.

By contrast, if increases in capital over the year occur without additional debt or stock issuances (such as solely through retained earnings), the amount of money that has been contributed to the firm by investors does not change during the year. Using an average that includes the higher year-end figure will overstate the amount of capital contributed and will likely understate the ROC calculation.