Lou Barlow, a divisional manager for Sage Company, has an opportunity to manufacture and sell one of two new products for a five$-$year period. His annual pay raises are determined by his division$$s return on investment $($ROI$),$ which has exceeded $25\%$ each of the last three years. He has computed the cost and revenue estimates for each product as follows:

Product A Product B

Initial investment:

Cost of equipment $($zero salvage value$)$ $ $370,000$ $ $530,000$

Annual revenues and costs:

Sales revenues $ $400,000$ $ $510,000$

Variable expenses $ $180,000$ $ $250,000$

Depreciation expense $ $74,000$ $ $106,000$

Fixed out$-$of$-$pocket operating costs $ $85,000$ $ $72,000$

The company$$s discount rate is $19\%.$

Required:

$1.$ Calculate the payback period for each product.

$2.$ Calculate the net present value for each product.

$3.$ Calculate the profitability index for each product.

$4.$ Calculate the simple rate of return for each product.

$5$a$.$ For each measure, identify whether Product A or Product B is preferred.

$5$b$.$ Based on the simple rate of return, which of the two products should Lou$$s division accept?