Practice Quiz 1b (Covers bottom up betas through cost of capital)
1. Melia Coffee is a company that operates espresso cafes and produces coffee pods
and espresso machines for sale. The following table summarizes the revenues
that the company generated from each business and relevant statistics from
publicly traded companies in each business.
Industry average
Business
Espresso cafes
Coffee/Espresso
Machines
Melia’s
Sales (in
millions)
$50
$50
1.00
Regression
Beta
1.50
Unlevered
Betab
1.20
3.00
1.00
0.80
EV/Salesa
a EV
=Enterprise value = Market value of equity + Debt – Cash
b Unlevered betas are already corrected for cash holdings at companies
Melia Coffee had debt outstanding of $ 50 million at the end of the most
recent year and the marginal tax rate for all companies is 40%. The company
has no cash.
a. Estimate the unlevered beta for Melia as a company.
(2 points)
b. Estimate the levered beta for Melia as a company.
(1 point)
2. You have been asked to assess the impact of Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of
Yahoo! and have collected the following information (in billions) on the two
companies:
Company Market value of
Equity
Market value
of debt
Cash Regression
beta
Business
Microsoft 300
0
60
1.2
Software
Yahoo!
0
0
2.8
Internet
services
60
While you believe that the regression beta is a reasonable estimate of the
beta for Microsoft as a company, you do not trust the regression beta for
Yahoo! The average unlevered beta for the internet services business is 2.00
and the marginal tax rate for all firms is 40%.
a. Assuming that cash as a percent of Microsoft’s value has remained
unchanged over the last two years (the regression period) and that the firm
has never used debt, estimate the unlevered beta of just being in the software
business.
(1 point)
b. Assume that Microsoft plans to use its entire cash balance to buy Yahoo!
Estimate the beta for Microsoft after the transaction. (2 points)
3. You are trying to estimate the cost of capital for Lumberger Inc., a paper & pulp
company, and have been provided with the following information:
 The unlevered beta for paper & pulp companies is 1.05
 There are 100 million shares outstanding, trading at $20/share, and the
book value of equity is $ 1 billion.
 The firm has $ 1 billion in debt outstanding (in book value terms), with
interest expenses of $ 40 million a year. The debt has a weighted average
maturity of 8 years.
 The company also has $ 50 million in operating lease commitment, each
year for the next 6 years.
 The bond rating for the company is A+, with a default spread of 1.50%
over the riskfree rate.
 The risk free rate is 3.5% and the equity risk premium is 6%. The
marginal tax rate for all firms is 40% but the effective tax rate is 25%.
a. Estimate the market value of debt for Lumberger, including the lease
commitments.
(2 points)
b. Estimate the cost of capital for Lumberger.
(2 points)