Question

Beale Manufacturing Company has a beta of 1.8, and Foley Industries has a beta of 0.80. The required return on an index fund that holds the entire stock market is 9%. The risk-free rate of interest is 5.5%. By how much does Beale's required return exceed Foley's required return? Do not round intermediate calculations. Round your answer to two decimal places.

Answer 1

3.5%

Step-by-step explanation:

We will apply asset pricing model to calculate cost of equity (required rate of return). The capital asset pricing model is stated as below:

Cost of equity = Risk-free rate + Beta x Market risk premium

Putting all the number together, we have:

Cost of equity (Beale) = 5.5% + 1.8 x (9% - 5.5%) = 11.8%

Cost of equity (Foley) = 5.5% + 0.8 x (9% - 5.5%) = 8.3%

Cost of equity (Beale) - Cost of equity (Foley) = 11.8% - 8.3% = 3.5%

Note: You can also do quick calculation as below:

Cost of equity (Beale) - Cost of equity (Foley) = (Beta of Beale - Bete of Foley) x Market risk premium = (1.8 - 0.8) x (9% - 5.5%) = 3.5%