Example: A company spends $5 million to buy prime real estate on which to build a new manufacturing factory. The land is worth $5 million. This is not financial leverage because the corporation is not using borrowed funds to purchase the land.
If the same corporation spent $2.5 million of its own money and $2.5 million in borrowed funds to purchase the same piece of real estate, the company is utilizing financial leverage.
Define: the utilization of fixed expenditures to increase the expected risk and potential return
Explanation: When purchasing assets, the corporation has three alternatives for financing: stock, debt, and leases. Apart from equity, the remaining choices have fixed costs that are lower than the expected income from the asset.