Case 3
Nike Inc.: Cost of Capital
BNFN 4304- Financial Policy
Mr. Masood Aijazi
Group members:
Nour Abdulaziz 1420149
Maryam Barifah 1420023
Balquis Mekhlafi 1420231
Shrouq Al-Jaaidi 1420072
Dar Al Hekma University: Business School
Spring Semester 2017-2018
25th February 2018
Introduction
The following case is about a portfolio manager who works at North Point Group named Kimi Ford who is trying to decide whether to buy Nike’s stock. However, Nike had a negative year which lead in a severe decline in sales growth, decline in profits and market share due to supply-chain issue and it was adverse effect of a strong dollar. A meeting was held to look at different strategies where Nike has revealed that it can boost revenues by having additional exposure in mid-price footwear and apparel lines as well as exerting more effort in controlling the expenses. Analysts had very different reactions to Nike’s changes.
Kimi Ford later created her own discounted cash flow forecast (DCF) to get a clearer conclusion, she asked her assistant Joanna Cohen to estimate the cost of capital. The aim of this case and analysis is to find and show the mistakes that are arising when estimating the cost of capital which was done by Cohen. When estimating the cost of capital she used a single cost instead of a multiple one and we agree with her. Even though there are different business segments for Nike, they all seem to have the same risk, thus using a single cost is more effective. This case shows the importance of weighing a company’s stock prior to buying them via using valuation models which is the WACC the importance of carefully selecting of carefully selecting the variables that are used in the WACC formula.
1. What is the WACC and why is it important to estimate a firm’s cost of capital? What does it represent? Is the WACC set by investors or by managers?
The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is simply the cost of the individual sources of capital. Capital is almost usually comprised of the equity that shareholders decided to in a company, or the debt that the lenders decided to invest in a company, with each source being individually being proportionally weighted. Calculating the WACC is important as when using that capital in any way would be an opportunity cost to the investors as that any capital that is being invested can be used in any other investment. In calculating the WACC the shareholders or lenders would be able to estimate the return that they would be able to earn when they decide to the invest in this company.
WACC is set by investors not by the managers, as it assists when they choose their final decision in the whether to proceed with that particular investment or not. Having the calculated the WACC which is the minimum rate of return that the investor will accept, for the investor they can find the yield that they will receive as their return by deducting the WACC from the company’s returns. If the WACC > Company’s returns investors would go ahead with their decision to invest. However, if the WACC < Company’s returns then the investor will withhold his decision to invest.