Week 4 Final Project

Week 1: Course Project: Part 1

Overview:

For your course project, assume you have just earned your master's degree in finance and are now employed by the Cosmo K Manufacturing Group. Your employment is contingent on your successful completion of several tasks over the next four weeks and the successful completion of a comprehensive exam to obtain company certification in finance. Each week, your supervisor, Gerry, will assign you projects of interest to the company that will test your competence in finance. Under these projects, you will be required to complete several specific tasks.

Tasks in Week 2 through Week 4 comprise the major parts of the course project and may be time consuming. You will be required to analyze several situations to help the company with its decision-making process. Accordingly, begin work on these portions of the course project prior to the week in which they are due. In Week 5, the last week of your probationary period, you will take the comprehensive exam.

The following is a summary of the weekly tasks for your course project:

Week 1	You will conduct a ratio analysis and a trend analysis for a company of your choice, one which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ).
Week 2	You will evaluate several different types of investment opportunities available to the firm and address related questions of interest to the company.
Week 3	You will analyze how to increase the accuracy of a project's cash flow forecasts. You will also evaluate the cash flows associated with a product.
Week 4	You will analyze two mutually exclusive projects that carry risk. You will create a comprehensive final report that combines analysis done in the previous weeks, fully addressing the concerns of the company.

Gerry has decided that you need some experience in evaluating other firms in the marketplace. Accordingly, he has asked you to select any company listed on the NYSE or the NASDAQ. For your selected company, identify and download the most recent financial statements for the last three to five years, to include the following:

· Balance sheet

· Income statement

· Per share data

Tasks:

Gerry would like you to complete the following tasks and submit your report by the end of the week:

· Identify the predominant industry in which your company operates. Find the industry averages for that industry for the following ratios:

· Current ratio

· Debt ratio

· Quick ratio

· Debt-equity ratio

· Total asset turnover

· Profit margin

· Inventory turnover

· Return on assets

· Receivables turnover

· Return on equity

· Calculate as many of the listed ratios for your selected company as possible using the financial statements you acquired.

· Conduct a trend analysis for the last three to five years. What trends can you identify? What do they indicate?

· Compare the ratios for the last common year to the industry averages. What conclusions can you draw regarding your company's performance? What are your company's strengths and weaknesses?

· Identify the changes that need to be made by the company to improve its performance, as compared to the industry, on the basis of the ratios.

Conduct a DuPont analysis for your selected company. What conclusions can you draw for improving your company's performance on the basis of this analysis?

Week 2: Course Project: Part 2

Your probationary period at the Cosmo K Manufacturing Group continues. Your supervisor, Gerry, assigns you a project each week to test your competence in finance.

This week, Gerry has asked you to evaluate several investment opportunities available to the company. Your instructions are to consider each situation independently of the others, unless otherwise indicated.

Evaluating Investment Opportunities

Consider the following situations and answer the related questions:

· Your company has the opportunity to make an investment that promises to pay $24,000 after 6 years. If your company has a required return of 8.5% on this type of investment, what is the maximum amount that the company should pay for the investment? Explain your answer.

· In the previous scenario, assume that your company negotiated a deal where it would pay $12,000 for the investment and receive a payment of $24,000 at the end of 7 years. What is the IRR on this investment? Should the company make the investment? Explain your answer.

· Another investment opportunity available to your company involves the purchase of some common stock from Zorp Corporation. The company has asked you to evaluate the stock, which paid a dividend of $4.25 last year and is currently selling for $36 per share. If your company decides to buy the stock, the stock will be held for 5 years and then sold. The growth rate on the stock is constant at 3% per year, and your company's required return on the stock would be 11%. What is the maximum price per share that your company should pay for the stock?

· Zorp Corporation also has some bonds for sale that your company is considering. These bonds have a $1,000 par value and will mature in 16 years. The coupon rate on the bonds is 5% paid annually, and they are currently selling for $987 each. The bonds are call protected for the next 4 years, and after this period, they are callable at 105. On the basis of this information, answer the following questions:

· What is the YTM on these bonds?

· If the bonds are called immediately after the call protection period, what would be the yield to call (YTC)?

· If the bonds paid interest semiannually instead of annually, would the YTC, the YTM, or both change? Explain your answers.

Week 3: Course Project: Part 3

Your probationary period at the Cosmo K Manufacturing Group continues. Your supervisor, Gerry, assigns you a project each week to test your competence in finance.

The company is considering the addition of a new office machine that will perform many of the tasks now performed manually. For this week's task, Gerry has given you the responsibility of evaluating the cash flows associated with the new machine. He has requested the report to be delivered within the week.

Evaluation of a New Office Machine

The Cosmo K Manufacturing Group currently has sales of $1,400,000 per year. It is considering the addition of a new office machine, which will not result in any new sales but will save the company $105,500 before taxes per year over its 5-year useful life. The machine will cost $300,000 plus another $12,000 for installation. The new asset will be depreciated using a a modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) 5-year class life. It will be sold for $25,000 at the end of 5 years. Additional inventory of $11,000 will be required for parts and maintenance of the new machine. The company evaluates all projects at this risk level using an 11.99% required rate of return. The tax rate is expected to be 35% for the next decade.

Tasks:

Answer the following questions:

· What is the total investment in the new machine at time = 0 (T = 0)?

· What are the net cash flows in each of the 5 years of operation?

· What are the terminal cash flows from the sale of the asset at the end of 5 years?

· What is the NPV of the investment?

· What is the IRR of the investment?

· What is the payback period for the investment?

· What is the profitability index for the investment?

· According to the decision rules for the NPV and those for the IRR, is the project acceptable?

· Is there a conflict between the two decision methods? If so, what would you use to make a recommendation?

· What are the pros and cons of the NPV and the IRR? Explain your answers.