Recall the HBS Case on Marriott Corporation, the levered equity beta was given as 0.97 for Marriott as a whole. This beta might not be appropriate to calculate Marriotts cost of equity because its target debt ratio (60%) going forward is quite different from its actual historical debt ratio (40%). Given that Marriott is planning to increase its leverage ratio, what should be the appropriate beta to be used in CAPM to calculate Marriotts cost of equity in future?

A.

1.97

B.

1.94

C.

1.43

D.

1.00

E.

1.46