In: Finance
Debbie's Cookies has a return on assets of 9.3 percent and a cost of equity of 12.4 percent. What is the pretax cost of debt if the debt-equity ratio is 0.88? Ignore taxes.
5.25%
6.42%
6.68%
5.78%
6.10%
Return on assets = 9.3%
Cost of Equity = 12.4%
Debt-Equity ratio = 0.88
To determine pretax cost of debt:
Cost of Equity = Return on assets + (Return on assets - Cost of Debt) x Debt-Equity ratio
12.4% = 9.3% + (9.3% - Cost of Debt) x 0.88
0.124 = 0.093 + (0.093 - Cost of Debt) x 0.88
0.124 = (0.093 + 0.08184) - 0.88 Cost of Debt
0.124 = 0.17484 - 0.88 Cost of Debt
0.88 Cost of Debt = 0.17484 - 0.124
0.88 Cost of Debt = 0.05084
Cost of Debt = 0.05084 / 0.88
Cost of Debt = 0.057773 or 5.78%
Therefore pretax cost of debt will be 5.78%