Chapter 7- Bonds and their valuation
Any securities that provide for a sinking fund more or lesser risky from the bondholders perspective than those without this type of provision?
7-10 A sinking fund provision facilitates the orderly retirement of the bond issue. Although sinking funds are designed to protect investors by ensuring that the bonds are retired in an orderly fashion, sinking funds can work to the detriment of bondholders. On balance, however, bonds that have a sinking fund are regarded as being safer than those without such a provision, so at the time they are issued sinking fund bonds have lower coupon rates than otherwise similar bonds without sinking funds.
whats the difference between a call for a sinking fund purposes and a refunding call
7-11 A call for sinking fund purposes is quite different from a refunding call. A sinking fund call requires no call premium, and only a small percentage of the issue is normally callable in a given year. A refunding call gives the issuer the right to call all the bond issue for redemption. The call provision generally states that the issuer must pay the bondholders an amount greater than the par value if they are called.
why are convertible and bonds with warrants typically offered with lower coupons than similarly rated straight bonds?
7-12 Convertibles and bonds with warrants are offered with lower coupons than similarly-rated straight bonds because both offer investors the chance for capital gains as compensation for the lower coupon rate. Convertible bonds are exchangeable into shares of common stock, at a fixed price, at the option of the bondholder. On the other hand, bonds issued with warrants are options that permit the holder to buy stock for a stated price, thereby providing a capital gain if the stock's price rises.
t/f only weak companies issue debentures
7-13 This statement is false. Extremely strong companies can use debentures because they simply do not need to put up property as security for their debt. Debentures are also issued by weak companies that have already pledged most of their assets as collateral for mortgage loans. In this latter case, the debentures are quite risky, and that risk will be reflected in their interest rates.
Would the riel spread on a corporate bond over a treasury bond with the same maturity tend to become riders or narrower if the economy appeared to be heading towards a recession ? Would he change in the spread for a given company be affected by the firms credit strength?
7-14 The yield spread between a corporate bond over a Treasury bond with the same maturity reflects both investors' risk aversion and their optimism or pessimism regarding the economy and corporate profits. If the economy appeared to be heading into a recession, the spread should widen. The change in spread would be even wider if a firm's credit strength weakened.
A bonds expected return is sometimes established by its YTM nd sometimes by its YTC. When would each be better?
7-15 Assuming a bond issue is callable, the YTC is a better estimate of a bond's expected return when interest rates are below an outstanding bond's coupon rate. The YTM is a better estimate of a bond's expected return when interest rates are equal or above an outstanding bond's coupon rate.
if the interest rates rise after a bond issue, what will happen to bonds pice and YTM? does the time to maturity affect the extent to which interest rates changes affect the bonds prices?
7-4 The price of the bond will fall and its YTM will rise if interest rates rise. If the bond still has a long term to maturity, its YTM will reflect long-term rates. Of course, the bond's price will be less affected by a change in interest rates if it has been outstanding a long time and matures soon. While this is true, it should be noted that the YTM will increase only for buyers who purchase the bond after the change in interest rates and not for buyers who purchased previous to the change. If the bond is purchased and held to maturity, the bondholder's YTM will not change, regardless of what happens to interest rates. For example, consider two bonds with an 8% annual coupon and a $1,000 par value. One bond has a 5-year maturity, while the other has a 20-year maturity. If interest rates rise to 15% immediately after issue the value of the 5-year bond would be $765.35, while the value of the 20-year bond would be $561.85.
A bonds yieldd to maturity is the bond's promised rate or return which equals its expected rate of return
7-5 The yield to maturity can be viewed as the bond's promised rate of return, which is the return that investors will receive if all of the promised payments are made. However, the yield to maturity equals the expected rate of return only when (1) the probability of default is zero and (2) the bond cannot be called. If there is some default risk or the bond may be called, there is some chance that the promised payments to maturity will not be received, in which case the calculated yield to maturity will exceed the expected return.
If you buy a callable bond and interest rated decline? Would the value of your bong rise by as much as if it wasn't callable?
7-6 If interest rates decline significantly, the values of callable bonds will not rise by as much as those of bonds without the call provision. It is likely that the bonds would be called by the issuer before maturity, so that the issuer can take advantage of the new, lower rates.
some a short term investment horizon. investment 1: a 1-year treasury security and a 20 yr treasury security? Which is riskier
7-7 As an investor with a short investment horizon, you would view the 20-year Treasury security as being more risky than the 1-year Treasury security. If you bought the 20-year security, you would bear a considerable amount of price risk. Since your investment horizon is only one year, you would have to sell the 20-year security one year from now, and the price you would receive for it would depend on what happened to interest rates during that year. However, if you purchased the 1-year security, you would be assured of receiving your principal at the end of that one year, which is the 1-year Treasury's maturity date.
Why is a call provision advantageous to a bond issuer? When would the issuer be likely to initiate a refunding call?
7-9 If a company sold bonds when interest rates were relatively high and the issue is callable, then the company could sell a new issue of low-yielding securities if and when interest rates drop. The proceeds of the new issue would be used to retire the high-rate issue, and thus reduce its interest expense. The call privilege is valuable to the firm but detrimental to long-term investors, who will be forced to reinvest the amount they receive at the new and lower rates.
The values of outstanding bonds change whenever the going rate of interest changes. In general, short-term interest rates are more volatile than ling-term interest rated. Therefore,short -term bond prices are more sensitive to interest rate changes than are one-term bond prices. IS this T/F?
False. Short-term bond prices are less sensitive than long-term bond prices to interest rate changes because funds invested in short-term bonds can be reinvested at the new interest rate sooner than funds tied up in long-term bonds. For example, consider two bonds, both with a 10% annual coupon and a $1,000 par value. The only difference between them is their maturity. One bond is a 1-year bond, while the other is a 20-year bond. Consider the values of each at 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% interest rates. 1-year 20-year 5% $1,047.62 $1,623.11 10% 1,000.00 1,000.00 15% 956.52 687.03 20% 916.67 513.04 As you can see, the price of the 20-year bond is much more volatile than the price of the 1-year bond.
Increase or decrease a bonds yield to maturity? -bond price increases -bond is downgraded by the rating agencies -change in the bankruptcy code ames it more difficult for bondholders to review payments in the event the firm declares bankruptcy -the economy seems to be shifting from a boom to a recession. how would it affect firms credit strength -investors learn that the bonds subordinated to another debt issue
If a bond's price increases, its YTM decreases. b. If a company's bonds are downgraded by the rating agencies, its YTM increases. c. If a change in the bankruptcy code made it more difficult for bondholders to receive payments in the event a firm declared bankruptcy, then the bond's YTM would increase. d. If the economy entered a recession, then the possibility of a firm defaulting on its bond would increase; consequently, its YTM would increase. e. If a bond were to become subordinated to another debt issue, then the bond's YTM would increase.
A sinking fund can be set up in 1 of 2 ways. 1. the cooperation makes annual payments to he trustee, who invests the process in securities (gov't bonds usually) and uses the accumulated total to retire the bond issue at maturity 2. The trustee uses the annual payments to retire a portion of the issue each year, calling a given percentage o the issue by a letter and paying a specified price per bond or buying bond on the open mater, whichever is cheaper
from the corporation's viewpoint, one important factor in establishing a sinking fund is that its own bonds generally have a higher yield than do government bonds; hence, the company saves more interest by retiring its own bonds than it could earn by buying government bonds. This factor causes firms to favor the second procedure. Investors also would prefer the annual retirement procedure if they thought that interest rates were more likely to rise than to fall, but they would prefer the government bond purchase program if they thought rates were likely to fall. In addition, bondholders recognize that, under the government bond purchase scheme, each bondholder would be entitled to a given amount of cash from the liquidation of the sinking fund if the firm should go into default, whereas under the annual retirement plan, some of the holders would receive a cash benefit while others would benefit only indirectly from the fact that there would be fewer bonds outstanding. On balance, investors seem to have little reason for choosing one method over the other, while the annual retirement method is clearly more beneficial to the firm. The consequence has been a pronounced trend toward annual retirement and away from the accumulation scheme.
