Question

Companies invest in expansion projects with the expectation of increasing the earnings of its business.

Consider the case of McFann Co.:

McFann Co. is considering an investment that will have the following sales, variable costs, and fixed operating costs:

	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Unit sales	3,500	4,000	4,200	4,250
Sales price	$38.50	$39.88	$40.15	$41.55
Variable cost per unit	$22.34	$22.85	$23.67	$23.87
Fixed operating costs except depreciation	$37,000	$37,500	$38,120	$39,560
Accelerated depreciation rate	33%	45%	15%	7%

This project will require an investment of $25,000 in new equipment. The equipment will have no salvage value at the end of the project’s four-year life. McFann pays a constant tax rate of 40%, and it has a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 11%. Determine what the project’s net present value (NPV) would be when using accelerated depreciation.

Determine what the project’s net present value (NPV) would be when using accelerated depreciation. (Note: Round your intermediate calculations to the nearest whole number.)

$32,735

$41,828

$43,646

$36,372

Now determine what the project’s NPV would be when using straight-line depreciation. ________

Using the straightline/accelerated depreciation method will result in the highest NPV for the project.

No other firm would take on this project if McFann turns it down. How much should McFann reduce the NPV of this project if it discovered that this project would reduce one of its division’s net after-tax cash flows by $700 for each year of the four-year project?

$1,629

$2,389

$1,846

$2,172

Answer 1