Question

Evaluate the following statement.” Increasing the weight of equity will always lower the WACC”

Answer 1

Since shareholders will expect to receive a certain return on their investments in a company, the equity holders' required rate of return is a cost from the company's perspective, because if the company fails to deliver this expected return, shareholders will simply sell off their shares, which leads to a decrease in share price and in the company’s value. The cost of equity, then, is essentially the amount that a company must spend in order to maintain a share price that will satisfy its investors.

Calculating the cost of debt (Rd), on the other hand, is a relatively straightforward process. To determine the cost of debt, you use the market rate that a company is currently paying on its debt. If the company is paying a rate other than the market rate, you can estimate an appropriate market rate and substitute it in your calculations instead.

There are tax deductions available on interest paid, which are often to companies’ benefit. Because of this, the net cost of a company's debt is the amount of interest it is paying, minus the amount it has saved in taxes as a result of its tax-deductible interest payments. This is why the after-tax cost of debt is Rd (1 - corporate tax rate).

Assuming that the cost of debt is not equal to the cost of equity capital, the WACC is altered by a change in capital structure. The cost of equity is typically higher than the cost of debt, so increasing equity financing usually increases WACC.