Cost of Capital for Hubbard Computer, Inc. You have recently been hired by Hubbard Computer, Inc. (HCI), in its relatively new treasury management department. HCI was founded eight years ago by Bob Hubbard and currently operates 74 stores in the Southeast. The company is privately owned by Bob and his family, and it had sales of $97 million last year. HCI primarily sells to customers who shop in the stores. Customers come to the store and talk with a sales representative. The sales representative assists the customer in determining the type of computer and peripherals that are necessary for the individual customer’s computing needs. After the order is taken, the customer pays for the order immediately, and the computer is made to fill the order. Delivery of the computer averages 15 days, and it is guaranteed in 30 days. HCI’s growth to date has come from its profits. When the company had sufficient capital, it would open a new store. Other than scouting locations, relatively little formal analysis has been used in its capital budgeting process. Bob has just read about capital budgeting techniques and has come to you for help. For starters, the company has never attempted to determine its cost of capital, and Bob would like you to perform the analysis. Because the company is privately owned, it is diff cult to determine the cost of equity for the company. Bob wants you to use the pure play approach to estimate the cost of capital for HCI, and he has chosen GE as a representative company. The following questions will lead you through the steps to calculate this estimate.

QUESTIONS (use and edit this document to submit your answers)

1. Most publicly traded corporations are required to submit quarterly (10Q) and annual reports (10K) to the SEC detailing the financial operations of the company over the past quarter or year, respectively. These corporate filings are available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Go to the SEC website, follow the “Search for Company Filings” link, and search for SEC filings made by GE. Find the most recent 10Q or 10K, and download the form. Look on the balance sheet to find the book value of debt and the book value of equity. If you look further down the report, you should find a section titled “Long-term Debt and Interest Rate Risk Management” that will provide a breakdown of GE’s long-term debt.

2. To estimate the cost of equity for GE, go to finance.yahoo.com and enter the ticker symbol GE. Follow the links to answer the following questions: What is the most recent stock price listed for GE? What is the market value of equity, or market capitalization? How many shares of stock does GE have outstanding? What is the most recent annual dividend? Can you use the dividend discount model in this case? What is the beta for GE? Now go back to finance.yahoo.com and follow the “Bonds” link. What is the yield on three-month Treasury bills? Using the historical market risk premium, what is the cost of equity for GE using CAPM?

3. You now need to calculate the cost of debt for GE. Go to www.finra.orgymarketdata, enter GE as the company, and find the yield to maturity for each of GE’s bonds. What is the weighted average cost of debt for GE using the book value weights and using the market value weights? Does it make a difference in this case if you use book value weights or market value weights?

4. You now have all the necessary information to calculate the weighted average cost of capital for GE. Calculate this using book value weights and market value weights, assuming GE has a 35 percent marginal tax rate. Which number is more relevant?

5. You used GE as a pure play company to estimate the cost of capital for HCI. Are there any potential problems with this approach in this situation?