Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Test
5. Research and development expense = real activity generating value for customers
7. Free Cash Flow (FCF) = amount of cash generated by an enterprise after expenditures required to
maintain or expand its asset base as indicated in the business strategy.
= EBIT(1-tax) +non cash expenses (depreciation etc) - chnge NWC - chnge CAPEX
11. cost of capital = return you can receive on an investment with similar risk
12. In a world with no taxes, shareholders are indifferent between dividend payouts and share
repurchases.
14. companies prefer shorter payback periods to longer payback periods : False
15. decrease in accounts receivable = source of cash. Increase in accounts payable = source of cash.
16. Efficient frontier = The set of efficient portfolios that may be formed from a group of risky assets
or securities. A portfolio is said to be efficient if no other feasible portfolio offers a higher expected
return for the same risk, or lower risk for the same expected return.
16. The portfolio that offers the highest level of return for a given level of risk is called the
Optimal portfolio
19. “Conservation of Business Risk” implies that a change in the capital structure of a company also
changes the amount of business risk per dollar of equity, but not the total amount of risk.
20. interval measure = average daily operating expenses divided by (current assets minus inventory).
The result is the number of days the company can continue to use its assets to meet its expenses.
27. All else equal, a firm with higher days in inventory will have a shorter cash cycle.
28. Competitor closing leads to Increase in sales; increase in cost of goods sold for you
Financial statements
Ratio analysis
Six basic categories:
• Growth
• Profitability
• Liquidity
• Leverage
• Efficiency
• Risk
Most financial ratios = simple comparison between items from a balance sheet and/or income
statement
Growth
A business’ growth possibilities = able to produce more cash, to become more valuable.
Profitability
Insufficient to simply assess if gross profit, operating profit, and net income, are positive or negative.
Need to compare profits to something:
In the example, asset turnover decreased because the previous manager invested in additional
equipment to grow the company but they never worked. Why ? will need to be investigated.
All else equal, we prefer a lower number of days in inventory, which corresponds to a higher
inventory turnover, because it needs less capital to achieve the same result, but industries vary and
inventories can achieve another goal.
Liquidity
liquidity denotes "closeness to cash," and is associated with the company's ability to meet known
near-term cash obligations and/or to cope with unexpected needs for cash.
Current ratio = current assets (cash, marketable securities, and working capital items that will turn
into cash within one year.) / current liabilities (amounts owed to suppliers, employees, lenders, and
the government within a year)
Most common used liquidity ratio. A low current ratio may be an early warning of future liquidity
problems
The same but inventories are excluded from current assets, because inventory is generally
considered less liquid than receivables
Leverage ratios try to identify if the company utilized its capacity for borrowing and to spot possible
problems associated with over-borrowing.
Debt ratio = debt /capital = (current portion LTD + ST debt + LT debt)/ (same debt + equity)
! Different definitions of "debt" are possible: sometimes debt is defined to equal total liabilities
(everything other than shareholders' equity), or only long-term debts such as mortgages, bonds and
debentures, including their current portions, or total liabilities excluding trade-related accounts such
as accounts payable and accrued expenses. It is necessary to know whet we are talking about.
Times interest earned ratio (= "interest coverage ratio")= extent to which earnings cover interest
payments= EBIT / interest
Risk
difficult to measure using data solely from financial statements
This definition assumes that all SG&A is fixed and that all COGS is variable by convention
Common-size balance sheets typically express all items as a percent of total assets.
Common-size income statements generally express all items as a percent of net sales.
Interpretation
The computation of financial ratios is fairly mechanical but interpreting them is seldom so
straightforward.
Which ratio to look at depends on what information you are trying to learn about a company.
It also depends on personal preferences, available data, and available benchmarks.
Most have little or no intrinsic meaning and must be compared to other data to make sense
Time trend
Golden State's difficulties during 2005-2006
are apparent when comparing ratios over
time. Growth slowed. Profitability fell.
Efficiency dropped. Liquidity deteriorated.
Leverage increased. It is not surprising that
Mr. Cota reclaimed control of the company.
Further, the results of his efforts show in
the clear improvement of the same ratios in
2007.
Budgets and target: comparison of a company's actual performance to the targets set beforehand.
At best rules of thumb reflect a capable analyst's years of experience. At their worst, they are
subjective notions that should be challenged or at least supplemented with other data.
Qualifications
limitations: ratios based solely on financial statements overlook other crucial determinants of
performance and financial conditions. For example, market share is an important measure of
performance that cannot be computed solely from financial statements;
Accounting methods may differ across otherwise similar companies, e.g., in different countries;
A given company may change accounting methods over time;
Ratios may be distorted by non-operating activities and transactions, by extraordinary events, and
discontinued operations.
Most ratios are computed using book values rather than market values, which may be substantially
different. For example, a debt-to-assets measure of leverage that seems high when computed in
terms of book values might be quite reasonable if a company's fixed assets are worth substantially
more than their book values.
Cash cycle
operating or net working capital (NWC) cycle.
the characteristics of the cash cycle are determined by fundamental properties of a given business,
such as Golden State's seasonal canning business. But managerial choices affect the cash cycle as
well — for example, how much credit the company chooses to extend to its customers will lengthen
or shorten the cycle.
in the long run we would expect a profitable business to have greater inflows than outflows, and
hence still less to worry about. But for most businesses, the outflows happen before the inflows.
Golden State has to buy the peaches and cans before it can sell them to a customer. This
fundamental fact creates a financing need = need for working capital. Growth will require even
more capital.
Financing need = amount of money, not a number of days. How large a loan is implied by a cash
conversion cycle of, say 15 days? It depends on the scale of operations.
When the company is profitable, some cash will go to lenders (interest and principal payments.)
Some may go to shareholders as dividends.
Some will stay in the company and be reinvested in fixed assets, such as machinery.
issuance of new securities may bring new cash into the firm from investors rather than customers.
This new cash may be for further investment in working capital or fixed assets, or to finance losses.
Seasonality in operations causes predictable fluctuations in working capital accounts, including cash.
To fund the seasonal peaks in working capital, many businesses, such as Golden State, rely on
revolving credit. A revolving credit facility works a lot like consumer credit cards — the company
may borrow up to some agreed-upon limit as necessary, and then repays the loan as its seasonal
needs recede. Most revolving credit agreements impose further conditions, such as limits based on
available collateral (usually receivables and inventory) and a requirement that the loan be completely
paid off for some period during each year.
Simply take balance sheets from two different dates and subtract one from the other.
The amount by which each line in the balance sheet has changed from one date to the other is then
categorized as either a source or a use of funds.
Internal growth rate = rate at which it can grow without any new external funding
rate at which a company can grow if (1) it does not issue any new external equity, and (2) it keeps its
operating and financing ratios constant.
When no dividends are paid, sustainable growth must equal the return on equity.
DuPont formula
Decomposes Return on Beginning Equity in terms of profit margin, asset turnover and financial
leverage.
A change in ratios (e.g. profitability, efficiency, or leverage) translates into a change in ROBE and
hence, sustainable growth. Even more fundamentally, a company wishing to grow fast could simply
issue new external equity - i.e., sell more stock to investors.
But raising leverage or selling shares, for example, permits higher growth. But repeated increases in
leverage could also lead to bankruptcy. And repeated issuances of new shares may dilute ownership.
What particular growth rate is optimal ?
Financial forecasting
Projected financial statements are often called pro forma statements.
Goal = answer questions such as : what will our financing requirements be if we grow sales at 10%
next year? If we grow at 10% for each of the next five years, what will happen to earnings per share if
we increase leverage? Will a recession cause us to violate a covenant on our bank loan?
Basic ingredients:
Business forecast: sales growth, product price, market size, competitor reactor, market share etc
Managerial policies and decisions: how to manage working capital accounts, how much to spend on
marketing and promotions, on R&D, etc.
External eco conditions: inflation rates, interest rates, and exchange rates
Accounting identities: equivalence of assets and liabilities plus equity, and link between profit and
retained earnings.
Error vs bias
Pro Formas
If goal = estimate external funding required by proposed business plans.
This can be expressed in a simple equation: External funding needed = projected total assets –
projected liability and equity
Cash
AR
Inventories
AP
Other accrued expenses
Sales
COGS
SG&A (SG&A are mostly fixed costs, that is, they do not vary with sales, but they are unlikely
to remain fixed in the face of high growth.)
Other accounts are determined by deliberate managerial actions or contracts (such as debt
agreements), and hence may not vary directly with sales. A good example is net property, plant and
equipment, which increases with capital expenditures and decreases with depreciation.
Depreciation
Net fixed assets
Current portion of LT debt
LT debt
Net worth
COGS
SG&A
taxes
Projecting accounts
Balance sheet items varying with sales:
Using efficiency ratios rather than percent of sales values as assumptions makes it straightforward to
state the forecasts in terms of management's target efficiency ratios.
If external fundings needed calculated is negative, it means no new funding is required. Makes sense
if the forecasted growth is less than internal growth rate.
As interest expense falls, net income will rise => increases company net worth
2008 Net worth = 2007 Net worth + Net Income – Dividends
Recalculate proforma balance sheet. If we still have a negative need for funding, iterate until
it equilibrates.
=>
Seasonality
Bear in mind that the pro forma balance sheet we just prepared is as of a certain date, specifically,
the end of the calendar year. The negative external funding requirement corresponds to December
31, 2008. But we know that Golden State's peak financing period is earlier, at harvest time or just
after, when inventory is higher and receivables have not yet been collected.
Pro-forma to evaluate company expansion scenarios
Evaluate an aggressive growth strategy over the next five to six years
- two possible expansions, supported by the use of the cold storage facility and the jarring line.
- possibility of developing new food lines with higher prices
Goals:
Compute pro-forma income statement : % of sales, SG&A rising due to increased marketing then
lower
and selected balance sheet items (cash, inv, AR, AP, accrued exp) etc (assumption for days and %)
put the operating forecasts into the appropriate lines in pro forma income statements and balance
sheets, based on Step 1
Uncertainty
Sensitivity analysis changes in one assumption at a time for instance for sales growth 3% or 6%.
Scenario analysis combines several assumptions into scenarios, either particularly likely or salient,
for instance opening or a competitor nearby. This could halve sales growth and raise COGS as a
percent of sales to 75%
Complex simulations involve many variables and probability distributions, along with estimates of
covariability. Properly constructed and interpreted, simulation analysis is a powerful technique for
understanding how uncertainty in one or more inputs affects the probability distribution of the
output.
Review – we learnt:
pro forma statements are projections of a company's future financial statements—they will
depend on the forecast date and time-frame;
financial forecasts combine several basic ingredients: a business forecast, managerial
choices, external variables, and accounting identities;
the simplest pro formas employ percent-of-sales forecasts, a technique whereby most
accounts vary directly with sales; note, though, that simplicity is not always a paramount
consideration, and many businesses employ much more sophisticated forecasting
techniques;
how external funding needs may be estimated using pro forma financial statements using an
iterative algorithm; and
how to test assumptions and outputs for reasonableness
Future value = present value * (1+ r), where r = market interest rate on a risk-free investment
For instance r = rate of return for risk-free security, US treasure bonds etc
PV of a Cash Flow Stream: example Valuing Golden State's Jarring Line Project
- a cold storage shed and an additional small jarring line was installed
- selling it would bring $10,000
- keeping it could be used to increase production. It could be used for only five seasons, after
which its value is no greater than the cost to have it removed and taken away.
o Incremental sales
o But also incremental costs: COGS, SG&A and inventory.
Incremental revenue
Incremental gross profit
But additional commissions to sales team => incr gross profit less commissions
Incremental taxable income
Incremental taxes
Incremental op cash flow
Calculate NWC
Net present value. should be>0. Beware that some important effects can be left ouf of NPV
Payback period and discounted payback period
o Payback period = time it takes to recoup the original investment in a project
o Based on incremental cash flow : ignores time-value of money
o Or on cumulative discounted cash flow: considers the time value of money,
o Both leave out any gains after the payback period !
Internal rate of return.
o discount rate at which the NPV of an investment equals zero.
o To use IRR as an investment criterion, one compares it to the cost of capital.
o Accept projects where IRR > cost of capital
o IRR function in Excel
o IRR=Discount at which NPV = 0
relationship between the NPV and discount rate may be plotted on a graph, the NPV and IRR
methods lead to the same conclusion. If an investment has a positive NPV, its IRR is typically greater
than the cost of capital and vice versa.
Perpetuities
stream of cash flows that occur at regular intervals and last forever.
example of a true perpetuity is the consol bond issued by the British government.
PV = CF/(1+r) + CF2/(1+r)^2+ CF3/(1+r)^3+… CFn/(1+r)^n where CFi = cash generated in year i
With a cash flow growing by a factor g per year: PV = CF / ( r – g ) with CF the initial cashflow