Question

Boss asks you to explain the difference between the Cost of Capital and DiscountRate in a multi-year Net Present Value analysis of a single project. You correctly point out that typically…

Answer 1

Answer:

Cost of capital is the overall rate of return expected by investors while the discount rate is the minimum rate of return used for appraising a project in order to obtain the net present value.

Explanation:

Cost of capital is calculated as cost of equity multiplied by the proportion of equity in the capital structure plus cost of debt multiplied by the proportion of debt in the capital structure plus cost of preferred stock multiplied by the proportion of preferred stock in the capital structure.

Discount rate is the rate used for determining the attractiveness of a project. This rate is used for determining the net present value of a project.