Weatherall Enterprises has no debt or preferred stock⎯it is an all-equity firm⎯and has a beta of 2.0.The chief financial officer is evaluating a project with an expected return of 14%, before any risk adjustment.The risk-free rate is 5%, and the market risk premium is 4%.The project being evaluated is riskier than an average project, in terms of both its beta risk and its total risk.Which of the following statements is CORRECT? A) The project should definitely be rejected because its expected return (before risk adjustment) is less than its required return. B) Riskier-than-average projects should have their expected returns increased to reflect their higher risk.Clearly, this would make the project acceptable regardless of the amount of the adjustment. C) The accept/reject decision depends on the firm's risk-adjustment policy.If Weatherall's policy is to increase the required return on a riskier-than-average project to 3% over r_S, then it should reject the project. D) Capital budgeting projects should be evaluated solely on the basis of their total risk.Thus, insufficient information has been provided to make the accept/reject decision. E) The project should definitely be accepted because its expected return (before any risk adjustments) is greater than its required return.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since the project being evaluated is riskier than an average project, in terms of both its beta risk and its total risk, the required return on the project should be higher than the risk-free rate + market risk premium. The correct required return on the project would depend on the firm's risk-adjustment policy. If the policy is to increase the required return on a riskier-than-average project to 3% over r_S, then the project should be rejected if its expected return (before risk adjustment) is less than this required return. Therefore, the accept/reject decision depends on the firm's risk-adjustment policy.

Weatherall Enterprises Has No Debt or Preferred Stock⎯it Is an All-Equity