In: Finance
Lenow’s Drug Stores and Hall’s Pharmaceuticals are competitors in the discount drug chain store business. The separate capital structures for Lenow and Hall are presented here.
Lenow | Hall | |||||
Debt @ 9% | $ | 130,000 | Debt @ 9% | $ | 260,000 | |
Common stock, $10 par | 260,000 | Common stock, $10 par | 130,000 | |||
Total | $ | 390,000 | Total | $ | 390,000 | |
Common shares | 26,000 | Common shares | 13,000 | |||
a. Complete the following table given earnings
before interest and taxes of $17,000, $35,100, and $58,000. Assume
the tax rate is 20 percent. (Negative amounts should be
indicated by parentheses or a minus sign. Round
your answers to 2 decimal places.)
b-1. What is the EBIT/TA rate when the firm's have
equal EPS?
b-2. What is the cost of debt?
b-3. State the relationship between earnings per
share and the level of EBIT.
c. If the cost of debt went up to 11 percent and
all other factors remained equal, what would be the break-even
level for EBIT?
a)
b-1) At $35,100 EBIT has equal EPS
EBIT/TA = (35,100 / 390,000)*100
= 9% Ans.
b-2) Cost of debt = Interest / Value of debt
= (130,000 * 9%) / 130,000
= 11,700 / 130,000 = 0.09 = 9% Ans.
b-3)
The 4.36 percent is before-tax return on assets, 9 percent, and 14.87 percent at the respective levels of EBIT. It appears that when the before-tax return on assets (EBIT/Total assets) is less than the cost of debt (9 percent), Lenow does well with less debt than Hall. However, when before-tax return to assets is equal to the cost of debt, both firms have equal EPS. This would be a result of the financing method having a neutral effect on EPS. As return on assets becomes greater than the interest rate, financial leverage becomes more favorable for Hall.
c.
At the EBIT break-even level:
EBIT / TA = Cost of debt
EBIT = Cost of debt × TA
= .09 × 390,000
= $35,100 Ans.