Notional Value: Derivatives Markets
People often say that the size of the derivative markets is exploding. It is over $700 trillion dollars a year now and when we put that number into perspective that is over the GDP of all the countries in the world combined in the last 20 years. How can the value of derivatives in one […]
The Deutsche Bank Commerzbank Merger
Deutsche Bank which, which was once a dominant German financial institution has now become extremely fragile. This German bank managed to make it past the great recession of 2009. However, the bank has been facing one challenge after another ever since the recession got over. At the present moment, the bank is functional and solvent. […]
Estimating Project Cash Flows: Part 1
Prima facie, capital budgeting may seem like a very simple task. After all, it has just 3 steps. The first is to find the cash flows, the second is to find the appropriate discount rate that represents the time value and riskiness of those cash flows and the third step is to use both these […]
Impairment in Sporting Franchises and Player Contracts
In the previous two articles, we have already established that the sporting industry has this unique practice of recognizing human players as intangible assets on their balance sheet. We also know that the value of these intangible assets is also routinely amortized just like other intangible assets. In short, the player contracts are treated exactly […]
Centralized Cryptocurrency Exchanges
The popularity of cryptocurrency is causing investors to make a beeline for buying into the cryptocurrency boom. The trading activity in these markets has increased manifold in the past few years. However, novice investors can find it difficult to understand how cryptocurrency is bought and sold. This is particularly important since there is more than […]
A high debt equity ratio makes the company financed by debt more than by equity. Therefore there are fixed interest payments involved. Hence when the going is good, the company makes a handsome return as a small percentage of change in EBIT creates a large percentage change in earnings per share. However the inverse of this is also true. Just like financial leverage helps to magnify profits, it also magnifies losses when EBIT fall down. Analysts want to quantify exactly how much variability does debt funding create in the operations of a particular company and have created a measure called “Degree of Financial Leverage” which we will study in detail.
Degree of Financial Leverage = % Change in EPS / % Change in EPS
There is a reasonable assumption about the absence of any changes in accounting policy which would make the EPS and EBIT figures incomparable from the previous years.
Thus, you are obligated to pay Rs 7 interest each year, regardless of what happens. Lets say that the price of the house went up by 20% to 120. In this case you will pay back the creditors Rs 77 (principal + interest) and be left with Rs 43. Since your original investment was Rs 30, you have gained Rs 13.
A price increase of 20% has led to an increase in the shareholders return by approximately 43%!
Thus, you are obligated to pay Rs 7 interest each year, regardless of what happens. Lets say that the price of the house went down by 20% to Rs 80. In this case you will pay back the creditors Rs 77 (principal + interest) and be left with Rs 3. Since your original investment was Rs 30, you have lost Rs 27.
A price decrease of 20% has led to a decrease in the shareholders return by approximately 90%
Leverage is very dangerous unless the company is reasonably certain of its earnings. Investors view the leverage ratio with great detail. This is because it enables a small change in the EBIT to completely wipe out the company’s capital and make it insolvent almost overnight.
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