1. Net present value (NPV)

Evaluating cash flows with the NPV method

The net present value (NPV) rule is considered one of the most common and preferred criteria that generally lead to good investment decisions.

Consider this case:

Suppose Green Caterpillar Garden Supplies Inc. is evaluating a proposed capital budgeting project (project Beta) that will require an initial investment of $2,500,000. The project is expected to generate the following net cash flows:

Year	Cash Flow
Year 1	$275,000
Year 2	$450,000
Year 3	$425,000
Year 4	$500,000

Green Caterpillar Garden Supplies Inc.s weighted average cost of capital is 7%, and project Beta has the same risk as the firms average project. Based on the cash flows, what is project Betas NPV?

-$1,289,804

-$621,569

-$671,569

-$1,121,569

Making the accept or reject decision

Green Caterpillar Garden Supplies Inc.s decision to accept or reject project Beta is independent of its decisions on other projects. If the firm follows the NPV method, it should project Beta.

Suppose your boss has asked you to analyze two mutually exclusive projectsproject A and project B. Both projects require the same investment amount, and the sum of cash inflows of Project A is larger than the sum of cash inflows of project B. A coworker told you that you dont need to do an NPV analysis of the projects because you already know that project A will have a larger NPV than project B. Do you agree with your coworkers statement?

Yes, project A will always have the largest NPV, because its cash inflows are greater than project Bs cash inflows.

No, the NPV calculation is based on percentage returns, so the size of a projects cash flows does not affect a projects NPV.

No, the NPV calculation will take into account not only the projects cash inflows but also the timing of cash inflows and outflows. Consequently, project B could have a larger NPV than project A, even though project A has larger cash inflows.