Preston Products

Mel Thomas, the chief financial officer of Preston Resources, has been asked to do an evaluation of Dunning Chemical Company by the president and chair of the board, Sarah Reynolds. Preston Resources was planning a joint venture with Dunning (which was privately traded), and Sarah and Mel needed a better feel for what Dunnings stock was worth because they might be interested in buying the firm in the future.

Dunning Chemical paid a dividend at the end of the year one of $1.30, the anticipated growth rate was 10%, and the required rate of return was 14%.

What is the value of the stock based on the dividend valuation model?

Indicate that the value you computed in part a is correct by showing the value of D1, D2 and D3 and by discounting each back to the present at 14%.D1 is $1.30, and it increases by 10% (g) each year.Also discount the anticipated stock price at the end of the year three back to the present and add it to the present value of the three dividend payments.

The value of the stock at the end of year three is:

D4

P3 = D4 = D3 (1+g)

Ke g

If you have done all these steps correctly, you should get an answer approximately equal to the answer in part a.

As an alternative measure, you also examine the value of the firm based on the price-earnings (P/E) ratio times earnings per share.

Since the company is privately traded (not in the public stock market), you will get your anticipated P/E ratio by taking the average value of five publicly traded chemical companies. The P/E ratios were as follows during the time period under analysis:

P/E Ratio

Dow Chemical 15

DuPont 18

Georgia Gulf 7

3M 19

Olin Corp 21

Assume Dunning Chemical has earnings per share of $2.10. What is the stock value based on the P/E ratio approach? Multiply the average P/E ratio you computed times earnings per share. How does this value compare to the dividend valuation model values that you computed in parts a and b?

If in computing the industry average P/E, you decide to weight Olin Corp. by 40% and the other four firms by 15%, what would be the new weighted average industry P/E? (Note: You decided to weight Olin Corp. more heavily because it is similar to Dunning Chemical). What will the new stock price be? Earnings per share will stay at $2.10.

By what percent will the stock price change as a result of using the weighted average industry P/E ratio in part d as opposed to that in part c?