Suppose Simmons' common stock has a beta of 1.37, the risk-free rate is 3.4 percent, and the market risk premium is 8.2 percent. The yield to maturity on the firm's bonds is 7.6 percent and the debt-equity ratio is .45. What is the WACC if the tax rate is 23 percent and all interest is tax deductible?

The WACC of the firm is 11.91%

Explanation:

The WACC or weighted average cost of capital is the rate of return that a business is expected to pay to all of its security holders- bonds, common stock, preferred stock- or is the cost of capital for the business.

To calculate the WACC, we use the following formula,

WACC = D/A * (1-tax rate) * rD  +  E/A * rE

Where,

We first need to calculate the required rate of return on equity (r). We will use the CAPM formula for r.

r = 0.034 + 1.37 * 0.082

r = 0.14634 or 14.634%

The total assets are equal to,

Assets = Debt + Equity

If for every $1 of equity, there is $0.45 of debt as given by debt-equity ratio.

Then,

Assets = 0.45 + 1    

Assets = $1.45

WACC = 0.45/1.45 * (1-0.23) * 0.076  +  1/1.45 * 0.14634

WACC = 0.11908 or 11.908% rounded off to 11.91%

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