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 24
liabilities
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

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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 27.0 Total shareholders’ 33.0
depreciation equity
Net tangible fixed assets 20.8
Long-term investments .5
Other long-term assets 23.1
Total assets 100 Total liabilities & 100
shareholders’ equity
COMMON-SIZE INCOME STATEMENT, 2008
Sales 100%
Cost of goods sold 25.2
Selling, general and 61.3
administrative expenses
Depreciation 3.2
Earnings before interest & 10.3
taxes
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%

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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.
 

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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

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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.

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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  no effect
b. The firm takes out a bank loan to pay its suppliers  no effect
c. The firm arranges a line of credit  no effect
d. A customer pays its overdue bills  no effect
e. The firm uses cash to purchase additional inventories  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  Total assets = 235
Total current liabilities = 30 + 25 = 55
Current ratio = 1.4  Total current assets = 1.4  55 = 77
Cash ratio = 0.2  Cash = 0.2  55 = 11
Quick ratio = 1.0  Cash + Accounts receivable = current liabilities = 55 
Accounts receivable = 44
Total current assets = 77 = Cash + Accounts receivable + Inventory 

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Inventory = 22
Total assets = Total current assets + Fixed assets = 235  Fixed assets = 158
Long-term debt + Equity = 235 – 55 = 180
Debt ratio = 0.4 = Long-term debt/(Long-term debt + Equity) 
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) 
Cost of goods sold = 120
Average receivables = (34 + 44)/2 = 39
Receivables’ collection period = 71.2 = Average receivables/(Sales/365) 
Sales = 200
EBIT = 200 – 120 – 10 – 20 = 50
Times-interest-earned = 6.25 = (EBIT + Depreciation)/Interest  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 
Earnings available for common stockholders = 24.96
Tax = Earnings before tax - Earnings available for common stock = 38.8-24.96 
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:

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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.

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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.

27. Because both current assets and current liabilities are, by definition, short-term
accounts, ‘netting’ them out against each other and then calculating the ratio in
terms of total capitalization is preferable when evaluating the safety of long-term
debt. Having done this, the bank loan would not be included in debt.
Whether or not the other accounts (i.e., deferred taxes, R&R reserve, and the
unfunded pension liability) are included in the calculation would depend on the
time horizon of interest. All of these accounts represent long-term obligations of
the firm. If the goal is to evaluate the safety of Geomorph’s debt, the key
question is: What is the maturity of this debt relative to the obligations
represented by these accounts? If the debt has a shorter maturity, then they
should not be included because the debt is, in effect, a senior obligation. If the
debt has a longer maturity, then they should be included. [It may be of interest to
note here that some companies have recently issued debt with a maturity of 100
years.]

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