Look again at Table 9.1 . This time we will concentrate on Burlington Northern.

a. Calculate Burlington’s cost of equity from the CAPM using its own beta estimate and the industry beta estimate. How different are your answers? Assume a risk-free rate of 5% and a market risk premium of 7%.

b. Can you be confident that Burlington’s true beta is not the industry average?

c. Under what circumstances might you advise Burlington to calculate its cost of equity based on its own beta estimate?

AppendixLO1