Market Rates and Cost of Capital

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What does a company's cost of capital represent and how is it calculated? How do market rates and the company's perceived market risk impact its cost of capital, and how does the company's debt to equity mix impact this cost of capital? Using the information provided, develop a spreadsheet to calculate weighted average cost (WAC) and marginal weighted average cost (MCC) of capital for Strident Marks?
A firm's long-term success depends upon the firm's investments earning a sufficient rate of return. This sufficient or minimum rate of return necessary for a firm to succeed is called the cost of capital.

The cost of capital can also be viewed as the minimum rate of return required keeping investors satisfied. Thus it is used to know the rate of return expected by the investors. Thus cost of capital is used to evaluate the project. It is also know as discount rate.

We measure marginal cost of capital because we want to measure the cost of new capital used to finance new investments. Thus it is the relevant cost in the investment decisions is the future cost or the marginal cost.

Marginal cost is the new or the incremental cost that the firm incurs if it were to raise capital now, or in the near future. The historical cost that was incurred in the past in raising capital is not relevant in financial decision-making. Hence single weighted average cost of capital is not used.
Break point refers to the level of new financing at which the cost of one of the financing components rises, thereby causing an upward shift in the marginal cost of capital.
Marginal cost of capital is the firm's average cost of capital associated with its next dollar of total new financing.

Cost of capital (WACC)=
(Cost of Equity x Proportion of equity from capital)+ (Cost of debt x Proportion of debt from capital)+ (Cost of Preference share x Proportion of preference share from capital).
Equity includes retained earnings and the cost of R/E is taken at cost of equity. Cost of equity capital is the opportunity return from an investment with same risk as the company has. Cost of equity is usually defined with Capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The estimation of cost of debt is naturally more straightforward, since its cost is explicit. Cost of debt includes also the tax shield due to tax allowance on ...