Question

Frieda Inc. is considering a capital expansion project. The initial investment of undertaking this project is $105,500. This expansion project will last for five years. The net operating cash flows from the expansion project at the end of year 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are estimated to be $22,500, $25,800, $33,000, $45,936 and $58,500 respectively. Frieda has a capital structure consisting of 20% debt and 80% equity. The after-tax cost of debt is 16% and the cost of equity is 18.5%.
What is Frieda%u2019s weighted average cost of capital?
a. 16%
b. 18%
c. 24%
d. 22%

Answer 1

Answer:

WACC = 0.18 or 18%

Option b is the correct answer.

Explanation:

The WACC or weighted average cost of capital is the cost of a firm's capital structure that can contain one or more of the following components, namely debt, preferred stock and common equity. The formula to calculate the WACC is as follows,

WACC = wD * rD * (1-tax rate)  +  wP * rP  +  wE * rE

Where,

• w represents the weight of each component

• D, P and E represents debt, preferred stock and common equity respectively

• r represents the cost of each component
• rD * (1-tax rate) represents the after tax cost of debt

WACC = 0.2 * 0.16   +   0.8 * 0.185

WACC = 0.18 or 18%