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4 Jul 2019

Some people--including the current chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Ben Bernanke) --have argued that one advantage of corporate debt from the stockholders' standpoint is that the existence of debt forces managers to focus on cash flow and to refrain from spending too much of the firm's money on private plane and other "perks." This is one of the factors that led to the rise of LBOs and private equity firms.

True or False?

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Sixta Kovacek
Sixta KovacekLv2
6 Jul 2019

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1) The subarea of finance where you need to value uncertain cash flows occurring at different points in time is:

a. investments

b. corporate finance

c. capital markets

d. bank management.

e. all of the above subareas

2) Which of the following statements is correct?

a. One advantage of forming a corporation is that equity investors are usually exposed to less liability than they would be in a partnership.

b. Corporations face fewer regulations than sole proprietorships.

c. One disadvantage of operating a business as a sole proprietor is that the firm is subject to double taxation, because taxes are levied at both the firm level and the Owner level.

d. It is generally less expensive to form a corporation than a proprietorship because, with a proprietorship, extensive legal documents ace required.

e. If a partnership goes bankrupt, each partner is exposed to liabilities only up to the amount of his or her investment in the business.

3) Which of the following statements is correct?

a. Corporations generally face fewer regulations than sole proprietorships.

b. Corporate shareholders are exposed to unlimited liability.

c. It is usually easier to transfer ownership in a corporation than in a partnership.

d. Corporate shareholders are exposed to unlimited liability, but this factor is offset by the tax advantages of incorporation.

e. Less of a corporation's income is generally subject to federal taxes.

4) The primary operating goal of a publicly-owned firm interested in serving its stockholders should be to:

a. Maximize its expected total corporate income.

b. Maximize its expected EPS.

c. Minimize the chances of losses.

d. Maximize the stock price per share over the long run, which is the stock’s intrinsic value.

e. Maximize the stock price on a specific target date.

5) Which of the following is correct?

a. In most corporations, the CFO ranks above the CEO.

b. By Law in most states, the chairman of the board must also be the CEO.

c. It is possible for a person to simultaneously serve as CEO and chairman of the board, though many corporate control experts believe it is bad to vest both offices in the same person.

d. The CFO generally reports to the firm's chief accounting officer, who is normally the controller.

e. The CFO is responsible for raising capital and for making sure that capital expenditures are desirable, but he or she is not responsible for the validity of the financial statements, as the controller and the auditors have that responsibility.

6) The primary operating goal of a publicly-owned firm trying to best serve its stockholders should be to

a. Maximize managers' own interests, which are by definition consistent with maximizing shareholders' wealth.

b. Maximize the firm’s expected EPS, which must also maximize the firm’s price per share.

c. Minimize the firm’s risks because most stockholders dislike risk in turn, this will maximize the firm’s stock price.

d. Use a well-structured managerial compensation package to reduce conflicts that may exist between stockholders and managers.

e. Since it is impossible to measure a stock's intrinsic value, the text states that it is better for managers to attempt to maximize the current stock price than its intrinsic value.

7) Which of the following actions would be most likely to reduce potential conflicts of interest between stockholders and bondholders?

a. Compensating managers with stock options.

b. Financing risky projects with additional debt.

c. The threat of hostile takeovers.

d. The use of covenants in bond agreements that limit the firm’s use of additional debt and constrain managers' actions.

e. Abolishing the Security and Exchange Commission.

8) Which of the following actions would be most likely to reduce potential conflicts of interest between stockholders and managers?

a. Pay managers large cash salaries and give them no stock options.

b. Change the corporation's formal documents to make it easier for outside investors to acquire a controlling interest in the firm through a hostile takeover.

c. Beef up the restrictive covenants in the firm’s debt agreements.

d. Eliminate a requirement that members of the board of directors must hold a high percentage of their personal wealth in the firm’s stock.

e. For a firm that compensates managers with stock options, reduce the time before options are vested, i.e., the time before options can be exercised and the shares that are received can be sold.

9) Which of the following mechanisms would be most likely to help motivate managers to act in the best interests of shareholders?

a. Decrease the use of restrictive covenants in bond agreements.

b. Take actions that reduce the possibility of a hostile takeover.

c. Elect a board of directors tlta.t allows managers greater freedom of action.

d. Increase the proportion of executive compensation that comes from stock options and reduce the proportion that is paid as cash salaries.

e. Eliminate a requirement that members of the board of directors have a substantial investment in the firm’s stock.

10) Which of the following is correct?

a. Potential conflicts between stockholders and bondholders are increased if a firm's bonds are convertible into its common stock.

b. Because bankruptcy requires that corporate bondholders be paid in full before stockholders receive anything, bondholders generally prefer to see corporate managers invest in high risk/high return projects rather than low risk/low return projects.

c. There is no good reason to expect a firm’s stockholders and bondholders to react differently to the types of assets in which it invests.

d. Stockholders should generally be happier than bondholders to have managers invest in risky projects with high potential returns as opposed to safe projects with lower expected returns.

e. Bondholders should generally be happier titan stockholders to have managers invest in risky projects with high potential returns as opposed to safe projects with lower expected returns.

11) You recently sold 100 shares of Microsoft stock to your brother at a family reunion. At the reunion your brother gave you a check for the stock and you gave your brother the stock certificates. Which of the following best describes this transaction?

a. This is an example of a direct transfer of capital

b. This is an example of a primary market transaction.

c. This is an example of an exchange of physical assets.

d. This is an example of a money market transaction.

e. This is an example of a derivative market transaction.

12) Which of the following statements is correct?

a. The NYSE does not exist as a physical location. Rather it represents a loose collection of dealers who trade stock electronically.

b. An example of a primary market transaction would be your uncle transferring 100 shares of Walmart stock to you as a birthday gift.

c. Capital market instruments include both long-term debt and common stocks.

d. If your uncle in New York sold 100 shares of Microsoft through his broker to an investor in Los Angeles, this would be a primary market transaction.

e. While the two frequently perform similar functions, investment banks generally specialize in lending money, whereas commercial banks generally help companies raise large blocks of capital from investors.

13) Which of the following is a primary market transaction?

a. You sell 200 shares of IBM stock on the NYSE through your broker.

b. You buy 200 shares of IBM stock from your brother. The trade is not made through a broker--you just give him cash and he gives you the stock.

c. IBM issues 2,000,000 shares of new stock and sells them to the public through an investment banker.

d. One financial institution buys 200,000 shares of IBM stock from another institution. An investment banker arranges the transaction.

e. IBM sells 2,000.000 shares of treasury stock to its employees when they exercise options that were granted in prior years.

14) Money Markets are markets for:

a. Foreign currencies.

b. Consumer automobile loans.

c. Common stocks.

d. Long-term bonds.

e. Short-term debt securities such as Treasury bills and commercial paper.

15) You recently sold 200 shares of Disney stock, and the transfer was made through a broker. This is an example of:

a. A money market transaction.

b. A primary market transaction.

c. A secondary market transaction.

d. A futures market transaction.

e. An over-the-counter market transaction.

16) Which of the following statements is correct?

a. Hedge funds are legal in Europe and Asia, but they are not permitted to operate in the United States.

b. Hedge funds are legal in the United States, but they are not permitted to operate in Europe or Asia.

c. Hedge funds have more in common with investment banks than with any other type of financial institution.

d. Hedge funds have more in common with commercial banks than with any other type of financial institution.

e. Hedge funds are not as highly regulated as most other types of financial institutions.

17) Which of the following factors statements is correct?

a. The New York Stock Exchange is an auction market, and it has a physical location.

b. Home mortgage loans are traded in the money market.

c. If an investor sells shares of stock through a broker, then it would be a primary market transaction.

d. Capital markets deal only with common stocks and other equity securities.

e. While the distinctions are blurring, investment banks generally specialize in lending money, whereas commercial banks generally help companies raise capital from other parties.

18) Which of the following statements is correct?

a. The term "IPO" stands for Introductory Price Offered, and it is the price at which shares of a new company are offered to the public.

b. IPO prices are generally established by the market, and buyers of the new stock must pay the price that prevails at the close of trading on the day the stock is offered to the public.

c. In a "Dutch auction," investors who want to buy shares in an IPO submit bids indicating how many shares they want to buy and the price they are willing to pay. The company determines how many shares it wants to sell. The highest price that enables the company to sell the desired number of shares is the price that all buyers must pay.

d. It is possible that the price set in an IPO is so high that investors will refuse to buy the number of shares that the company wants to sell. In this situation, the IPO is said to be oversubscribed.

e. It is possible that the price set in an IPO is so low that investors will want to buy more shares than the company wants to sell. In that case, the company will have to issue more shares than it wants to sell.

19) The stock market is thought to be efficient because:

a. There are many brokers working the exchange floors

b. Computers can make very fast calculations these days

c. There are many stock analysts following the same stocks

d. Stocks are available and are very inexpensive

e. Speed trading is now an acceptable trading technique

20) If the stock is priced correctly but with better management the firm could be worth even more, then the firm would be:

a. A potential target for a stock investor

b. A potential target for a private equity firm

c. A potential target for a bond fund

d. A potential target for the SEC

e. A potential target for share repurchases

Can you tell me What does this article tell us about the bond markets performance and the interest rate environment?

Long-Term Government Bonds Shine as Fed Goes Slow

Pimco, Vanguard funds with focus on long-term debt beat out other bond funds in the 1st quarter

For investors, one of the best bets of 2016 has been a wager via U.S. Treasurys on falling interest rates.

A Pimco long-term government-bond fund was the best performer among bond funds in the first quarter. Above, Pimco offices in Newport Beach, Calif. PHOTO: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS

The $460 million Pimco Extended Duration Fund posted a total return of 11.8% in the first quarter, making it the best performer among 2,015 U.S.-based bond mutual funds, according to data from Morningstar. Total return reflects price gains plus periodic payments.

The runner-up was $1.3 billion Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury Index Fund, which returned 11.7% during the quarter, according to Morningstar.

Both funds posted their best returns since the last quarter of 2014 and have extended those gains in the early days of the second quarter. Duration refers to a fund’s exposure to interest-rate risk, meaning its prices will rise more when rates fall and fall more when rates rise.

Analysts have warned repeatedly that bets on duration are risky, given the long decline in interest rates over recent years. The gains are striking at a time when stocks and other riskier assets have rebounded from an early-year selloff that at one point left the Dow industrials down 10%. The Dow fell 20.55 points, or 0.1%, on Monday, but is up 0.8% for the year.

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While safer securities such as U.S. Treasurys and German bunds tend to decline in price when stocks and low-rated corporate bonds rally, many analysts say the simultaneous rise of safer and riskier assets this spring is tied to the unexpectedly slow pace of policy tightening by the Federal Reserve, along with signs the global economy continues its slow healing.

MORE IN MARKETS

A Measure of Stock-Market ‘Fear’ Just Hit an All-Time High

Spreads Point to Growing Stress in Japanese Government Bond Market

By One Measure, U.S. Rates Are Already Negative

At the same time, many investors are concerned that the rally in stocks, bonds and commodities off Feb. 11 lows may have gone too far too fast.

“We are still stuck in low growth,’’ Jack Flaherty,portfolio manager at money manager GAM, which has over $119 billion in global assets under management. “It may be time to lighten up a bit and pause” on purchases of riskier assets, he said.

The uncertainty is why many investors are buying long-term U.S. government bonds, even though analysts have warned that slim yields leave bondholders vulnerable to potentially large capital losses if interest rates do rise.

The average U.S. equity mutual fund posted a total return of minus-0.4% between January and March, according to Morningstar. The average return for all U.S.-based bond funds tracked by Morningstar was 2.1% for the period. Quarter-end data for all funds are typically finalized in the early days of the following period.

“It has been a good start for bond funds,’’ said Jeff Tjornehoj, head of Americas research at Lipper. That performance “may be hard to repeat this quarter.”

Stock funds on average returned 4.4% in the fourth quarter last year, according to Morningstar. Bond funds posted a negative 0.1% return in the final quarter of 2015.

U.S. Treasury bonds overall have posted a total return of 3.6% this year through Friday, according to data from Barclays. U.S. bonds sold by lower-rated firms, or junk bonds, have returned 3.8% over the same period. S&P 500 has returned 0.8%, according to FactSet.

The Vanguard fund passively tracks an index of long-term Treasury bonds. The fund “will tend to have extreme results—both on the up and down side’’ given its focus on buying government bonds with very long-term maturity, said a representative of Vanguard in a written statement.

The Pimco fund is actively managed by three fund managers at Pacific Investment Management Co.: Stephen Rodosky, Michael Cudzil and Josh Thimons. A representative at Pimco declined to comment.

The Pimco fund attracted $19.7 million of new cash between January and February, topping the $11.9 million it obtained for the whole year of 2015, according to the latest data from fund tracker Lipper.

The Vanguard fund attracted $20.4 million of new cash during the first two months of the year, after suffering a net withdrawal of $115.7 million in 2015, according to Lipper.

The Vanguard fund posted a loss of 20.9% in 2013, according to Morningstar, when worries about the Fed reducing bond purchases rattled the bond market. The Pimco fund lost 21.2% that year.

But U.S. bond yields have largely been on a downward trend since the financial crisis. The two funds both posted an annualized return of about 17% on average over the past five years through Friday, according to Morningstar.

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