Stock returns vary from year to year. The more variance a stock displays the greater the potential risk. These are the rates of return for a stock over the last five years. Calculate the variance of these investment returns: 10, 30, 15, 5, 20. Hint: The variance of a series of numbers is the sum of the squares of their differences from the mean (average) of the numbers divided by the number of items in the series.

Pennewell publishing inc. (pp) is a zero growth company. it currently has zero debt and its earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) are $80,000. pp's current cost of equity is 10%, and its tax rate is 40%. the firm has 10,000 shares of common stock outstanding selling at a price per share of $48.00. refer to the data for pennewell publishing inc. (pp). pp is considering changing its capital structure to one with 30% debt and 70% equity, based on market values. the debt would have an interest rate of 8%. the new funds would be used to repurchase stock. it is estimated that the increase in risk resulting from the added leverage would cause the required rate of return on equity to rise to 12%. if this plan were carried out, what would be pp's new value of operations? a. $484,359 b. $521,173 c. $584,653 d. $560,748 e. $487,805

Why is following an unrelated diversification strategy especially advantageous in an emerging economy? a. it allows the conglomerate to overcome institutional weaknesses in emerging economies. b. it allows the conglomerate to form a monopoly in emerging economies. c. it allows the conglomerate to use well-defined legal systems in emerging economies. d. it allows the conglomerate to take advantage of strong capital markets in emerging economies.

What are consequences of rapid inflation? (select all that apply.) savings accounts become less desirable because interest earned is lower than inflation individual purchasing power increases, which results in an increase in demand. individual purchasing power decreases, which results in a decrease in demand. people postpone purchasing expensive items, such as homes, until prices drop.