fbpixel 101 concepts level II | IFT World - Part 4

Category: Essential Concepts for Level II

Essential Concept 31: Quality of Financial Reports

Financial reporting quality Low High Low quality reports contain information that is pure fabrication. High-quality reports contain information that is relevant, complete, neutral, and free from error. Low financial reporting quality impedes assessment of earnings quality and impedes valuation. High financial reporting quality enables assessment.   Earnings (results) quality Low High Low earnings quality is unsustainable. High earnings quality increases company value. High earnings quality is sustainable.   From an investor’s perspective, the overall quality of financial reports, that is combining reporting quality and earnings quality, can be thought of as a continuous spectrum ranging from highest to lowest as depicted in… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 32: Potential Problems that Affect the Quality of Financial Reports

Income statement: Overstatement or non-sustainability of operating income and/or net income. Overstated or accelerated revenue recognition Understated expenses Misclassification of revenue, gains, expenses, or losses Balance sheet: Misstatement of balance sheet items Over- or understatement of assets Over- or understatement of liabilities Misclassification of assets and/or liabilities Cash flow statement: Overstatement of cash flow from operations. Mergers and acquisitions provide opportunities and motivations to manage financial results. For example, companies with declining cash flow from operations (CFO) may acquire companies to increase CFO as the acquisition may appear in CFI if paid with cash or not appear at all if… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 33: Integration of Financial Statement Analysis Techniques

DuPont analysis DuPont analysis decomposes ROE into its components: ROE = Return on assets × Leverage ROE = Net profit margin × Asset turnover × Leverage ROE = EBIT margin × Tax burden × Interest burden × Asset turnover × Leverage Evaluating the different components of ROE allows the analyst to identify a company’s potential strengths and weakness. DuPont analysis should be performed with and without the impact of ‘income from associates’. This is because the operations and resources of associate companies are not in the parent company’s control. Asset base composition Common size balance sheets are used to examine… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 34: Capital Budgeting: Determining Cash Flows

The cash flows relevant to an investing decision are the incremental cash flows i.e. the cash flows the company realizes with the investment compared to the cash flows the company would realize without the investment. An expansion project is an independent investment that does not affect the cash flows for the rest of the company. In a replacement project we evaluate if it is profitable to replace existing equipment with new equipment by considering the incremental cash flows. The cash flows can be grouped into 1) the investment outlays, 2) after-tax operating cash flows over the project’s life, and 3)… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 35: Economic Profit, Residual Income, and Claims Valuation

Economic profit takes the perspective of all investors (debt and equity) Economic profit: EP = NOPAT – $WACC where NOPAT = Net operating profit after tax = EBIT(1 – Tax rate) and $WACC = Dollar cost of capital = WACC * Capital. When applied to the valuation of an asset or security, the NPV of an investment (and its market value added) is the present value of future EP discounted at the weighted average cost of capital. NPV = MVA = Σ EPt/ (1 + WACC)t The total value of the company (of the asset) is the original investment plus… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 36: Modigliani–Miller Propositions

MM Proposition I (without taxes): The market value of the company is not affected by the capital structure of the company. VL = VU MM Proposition II (without taxes): The cost of equity is a linear function of the company’s debt/equity ratio. Where, r0 is the cost of capital for a company financed only by equity and has zero debt. MM Proposition I (with taxes): The value of the company with debt is greater than that of the all equity company by an amount equal to the tax rate multiplied by the value of the debt. Where t is the… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 37: Dividend Payout Policies

Stable dividend policy: In this policy, a company tries to align its dividend growth rate to the company’s long-term earnings growth rate. The stable dividend policy can be represented by a gradual adjustment process in which the expected increase in dividends is calculated as: Expected increase in dividends = (Expected earnings × Target payout ratio – Previous dividend) × Adjustment factor Adjustment factor = 1/ number of years over which the adjustment in dividends will take place New dividend = Original dividend + Increase in dividend   Example: Current dividend = 0.4. Expected earnings for the year ahead = 1.50…. Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 38: Evaluating Corporate Governance Policies and Procedures

Board policies and practices: To evaluate a company’s board policies and practices, we look at the following- Board of directors’ structure: Analysts consider whether the structure is a one-tier or two-tier structure and if this structure provides sufficient oversight, representation, and accountability to shareholders. Board independence: A board with a majority of independent board members is considered positive. Board skills and experience: A board with diverse skills and expertise directly related to the company’s core operations is considered positive. Board composition: A board with more diversity with respect to profession, culture, geographical background, gender, age and tenure is considered positive…. Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 39: Identifying and Evaluating ESG-Related Risks and Opportunities

Materiality and investment horizon: There are several challenges while evaluating ESG information. Companies usually report information and metrics that are inconsistent, making comparisons across companies difficult. Also, ESG disclosures are voluntary. Therefore, different companies may report different levels of information. This again makes comparisons across companies difficult. While evaluating ESG factors, analysts first need to evaluate if an information is material. Materiality typically refers to ESG related issues that can affect a company’s operation, its financial performance, and the valuation of its securities. Analysts also consider their investment horizon when deciding which ESG factors to consider in their analysis. Some… Read More

101 concepts level II

Essential Concept 40: Mergers and Industry Life Cycles

Industry Life Cycle Stage Industry Description Motives for Merger Types of Mergers Pioneering development Industry exhibits substantial development costs and has low, but slowly increasing, sales growth. Younger, smaller companies may sell themselves to larger companies in mature or declining industries looking for ways to enter into a new growth industry. Young companies may look to merge with companies that allow them to pool management and capital resources. Conglomerate Horizontal Rapid accelerating growth Industry exhibits high profit margins caused by few participants in the market. Explosive growth in sales may require large capital requirements to expand existing capacity. Conglomerate Horizontal… Read More

101 concepts level II
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