What challenges are faced in FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

After engaging in a dialogue with your colleagues on valuation, you will now be given an opportunity to apply principles that were presented in this phase. Using a Web site that provides current stock and bond pricing and yield information, complete and analyze the tables illustrated below. Your mentor suggests using a Web site similar to this one.

To fill out the first table, you will need to select 3 bonds with maturities between 10 and 20 years with bond ratings of “A to AAA,” “B to BBB” and “C to CC” (you may want to use bond screener at the Web site linked above). All of these bonds will have these values (future values) of $1,000. You will need to use a coupon rate of the bond times the face value to calculate the annual coupon payment. You should subtract the maturity date from the current year to determine the time to maturity. The Web site should provide you with the yield to maturity and the current quote for the bond. (Be sure to multiply the bond quote by 10 to get the current market value.) You will then need to indicate whether the bond is currently trading at a discount, premium, or par.

• Explain the relationship observed between ratings and yield to maturity.
• Explain why the coupon rate and the yield to maturity determine why the bonds would trade at a discount, premium, or par.
• Based on the material you learn in this Phase, what would you expect to happen to the yield to maturity and market value of the bonds if the time to maturity was increased or decreased by 5 years?

In this step, you have been asked to visit a credible Web site that provides detailed information on publicly traded stocks and select 1 that has at least a 5-year history of paying dividends and 2 of its closest competitors.

To fill up the first table, you will need to gather information needed to calculate the required rate of return for each of the 3 stocks. You will need the risk-free rate that you used in Phase 3, the market return is calculated in Phase 1, and the beta that you should be able to find on the Web site.