U.S. public companies with “low” leverage have an interest-bearing net debt-to-equity ratio of 0 percent or less, firms with “medium” leverage have a ratio between 1 and 62 percent, and “high” leverage firms have a ratio of 63 percent or more. Given these data, how would you classify the following firms in terms of their optimal debt-to-equity ratio (high, medium, or low)?

• a successful pharmaceutical company

• an electric utility

• a manufacturer of consumer durables

• a commercial bank

• a start-up software company AppendixLO1