In: Finance
Mr. Gold is in the widget business. He currently sells 1.3
million widgets a year at $7 each. His variable cost to produce the
widgets is $5 per unit, and he has $1,640,000 in fixed costs. His
sales-to-assets ratio is seven times, and 40 percent of his assets
are financed with 9 percent debt, with the balance financed by
common stock at $10 par value per share. The tax rate is 35
percent.
His brother-in-law, Mr. Silverman, says he is doing it all wrong.
By reducing his price to $6.00 a widget, he could increase his
volume of units sold by 60 percent. Fixed costs would remain
constant, and variable costs would remain $5 per unit. His
sales-to-assets ratio would be 10.0 times. Furthermore, he could
increase his debt-to-assets ratio to 50 percent, with the balance
in common stock. It is assumed that the interest rate would go up
by 1 percent and the price of stock would remain constant.
A. Compute earnings per share under the gold plan
B. Compute earnings per share under the silverman plan