Your company has two divisions: One division sells software and the other division sells computers through a direct sales channel, primarily taking orders over the Internet. You have decided that Hewlett Packard is very similar to your computer division, in terms of both risk and financing. You go online and find the following information: Hewlett Packard’s beta is 1.21, the risk-free rate is 4.5%, its market value of equity is $67 billion, and it has $700 million worth of debt with a yield to maturity of 6%. Your tax rate is 25% and you use a market risk premium of 5% in your WACC estimates.
a. What is an estimate of the WACC for your computer sales division?
b. If your overall company WACC is 12% and the computer sales division represents 40% of the value of your firm, what is an estimate of the WACC for your software division?