Tuesday, March 15, 2022

NPV Analysis

It is always interesting to see a real-world application of concepts you have learned in class. Recently, Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd. released the results of its capital budgeting analysis of a barium sulfate project in British Columbia, Canada. Notice the company repeatedly refers to the project NPV, but also calculates the IRR and payback period. The report includes the key variable assumptions and the NPV per share. What we also find interesting is the sensitivity figure near the bottom of the article. The company shows the sensitivity of the project to changes in operating costs, revenue, and capital. It appears that the NPV of this project is most sensitive to changes in revenue.

Century Bonds Issued

With the threat of an increase in interest rates, it appears to be a good time for borrowers to lock on interest rates for a long time. TTUN is the latest to do so, issuing $1.2 billion worth of century bonds, that is bonds with a 100-year maturity, at a coupon rate of 4.45 percent. At the same time, TTUN issued $800 million of 30-year maturity bonds at 3.5 percent. Other Big Ten universities, including the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, Rutgers University, and THE Ohio State University have issued century bonds in recent years.

Friday, March 4, 2022

Onshoring

Which automobile company exports the most cars from the U.S.? Most people would probably guess Ford or GM, but for the 8th straight year, BMW is the U.S. auto export leader. During 2021, BMW exported 257,876 cars valued at $10.1 billion from the company's plant in the U.S. Although many are concerned with the negative effects of offshoring manufacturing, there are also benefits to onshoring.