Packet 1: Corporate Finance

B40.2302 - Fall 2006

Aswath Damodaran
The Objective in Corporate Finance
The Investment Principle

Aswath Damodaran

The Objective in Corporate Finance

If you dont know where you are going, it does not matter how
you get there

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First Principles

Invest in projects that yield a return greater than the minimum

acceptable hurdle rate.
The hurdle rate should be higher for riskier projects and reflect the
financing mix used - owners funds (equity) or borrowed money (debt)
Returns on projects should be measured based on cash flows generated
and the timing of these cash flows; they should also consider both positive
and negative side effects of these projects.

Choose a financing mix that minimizes the hurdle rate and matches the
assets being financed.
If there are not enough investments that earn the hurdle rate, return the
cash to the owners of the firm (if public, these would be stockholders).

The form of returns - dividends and stock buybacks - will depend upon
the stockholders characteristics.

Objective: Maximize the Value of the Firm

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The Classical Viewpoint

Van Horne: "In this book, we assume that the objective of the firm is
to maximize its value to its stockholders"
Brealey & Myers: "Success is usually judged by value: Shareholders
are made better off by any decision which increases the value of their
stake in the firm... The secret of success in financial management is to
increase value."
Copeland & Weston: The most important theme is that the objective
of the firm is to maximize the wealth of its stockholders."
Brigham and Gapenski: Throughout this book we operate on the
assumption that the management's primary goal is stockholder wealth
maximization which translates into maximizing the price of the
common stock.

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The Objective in Decision Making

In traditional corporate finance, the objective in decision making is to

maximize the value of the firm.
A narrower objective is to maximize stockholder wealth. When the
stock is traded and markets are viewed to be efficient, the objective is
to maximize the stock price. Maximize equity

Maximize
firm value

value
Assets

Existing Investments
Generate cashflows today
Includes long lived (fixed) and
short-lived(working
capital) assets
Expected Value that will be
created by future investments

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Maximize market
estimate of equity
value

Liabilities
Assets in Place

Debt

Growth Assets

Equity

Fixed Claim on cash flows

Little or No role in management
Fixed Maturity
Tax Deductible

Residual Claim on cash flows

Significant Role in management
Perpetual Lives

Maximizing Stock Prices is too narrow an

objective: A preliminary response

Maximizing stock price is not incompatible with meeting employee

needs/objectives. In particular:
- Employees are often stockholders in many firms
- Firms that maximize stock price generally are firms that have treated
employees well.

Maximizing stock price does not mean that customers are not critical
to success. In most businesses, keeping customers happy is the route to
stock price maximization.
Maximizing stock price does not imply that a company has to be a
social outlaw.

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Why traditional corporate financial theory

focuses on maximizing stockholder wealth.

Stock price is easily observable and constantly updated (unlike other

measures of performance, which may not be as easily observable, and
certainly not updated as frequently).
If investors are rational (are they?), stock prices reflect the wisdom of
decisions, short term and long term, instantaneously.
The objective of stock price performance provides some very elegant
theory on:
Allocating resources across scarce uses (which investments to take and
which ones to reject)
how to finance these investments
how much to pay in dividends

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The Classical Objective Function

STOCKHOLDERS
Hire & fire
managers
- Board
- Annual Meeting
Lend Money
BONDHOLDERS

Maximize
stockholder
wealth

Managers

Protect
bondholder
Interests
Reveal
information
honestly and
on time

No Social Costs
SOCIETY
Costs can be
traced to firm

Markets are
efficient and
assess effect on
value

FINANCIAL MARKETS

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What can go wrong?

STOCKHOLDERS
Have little control
over managers

Lend Money
BONDHOLDERS

Managers put
their interests
above stockholders

Managers

Significant Social Costs

SOCIETY

Bondholders can
Some costs cannot be
get ripped off
traced to firm
Delay bad
Markets make
news or
mistakes and
provide
misleading can over react
information
FINANCIAL MARKETS

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I. Stockholder Interests vs. Management

Interests

In theory: The stockholders have significant control over

management. The mechanisms for disciplining management are the
annual meeting and the board of directors.
In Practice: Neither mechanism is as effective in disciplining
management as theory posits.

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The Annual Meeting as a disciplinary venue

The power of stockholders to act at annual meetings is diluted by three

factors
Most small stockholders do not go to meetings because the cost of going
to the meeting exceeds the value of their holdings.
Incumbent management starts off with a clear advantage when it comes to
the exercise of proxies. Proxies that are not voted becomes votes for
incumbent management.
For large stockholders, the path of least resistance, when confronted by
managers that they do not like, is to vote with their feet.

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Board of Directors as a disciplinary mechanism

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The CEO often hand-picks directors..

The 1992 survey by Korn/Ferry revealed that 74% of companies relied

on recommendations from the CEO to come up with new directors;
Only 16% used an outside search firm. While that number has changed
in recent years, CEOs still determine who sits on their boards.
Directors often hold only token stakes in their companies. The
Korn/Ferry survey found that 5% of all directors in 1992 owned less
than five shares in their firms. Most directors in companies today still
receive more compensation as directors than they gain from their
stockholdings.
Many directors are themselves CEOs of other firms. Worse still, there
are cases where CEOs sit on each others boards.

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Directors lack the expertise (and the

willingness) to ask the necessary tough
questions..

In most boards, the CEO continues to be the chair. Not surprisingly,

the CEO sets the agenda, chairs the meeting and controls the
information provided to directors.
The search for consensus overwhelms any attempts at confrontation.

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Whos on Board? The Disney Experience 1997

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The Calpers Tests for Independent Boards

Calpers, the California Employees Pension fund, suggested three tests

in 1997 of an independent board
Are a majority of the directors outside directors?
Is the chairman of the board independent of the company (and not the
CEO of the company)?
Are the compensation and audit committees composed entirely of
outsiders?

Disney was the only S&P 500 company to fail all three tests.

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Business Week piles on The Worst Boards in

1997..

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Application Test: Whos on board?

Look at the board of directors for your firm. Analyze

How many of the directors are inside directors (Employees of the firm, exmanagers)?
Is there any information on how independent the directors in the firm are
from the managers?

Are there any external measures of the quality of corporate governance

of your firm?
Yahoo! Finance now reports on a corporate governance score for firms,
where it ranks firms against the rest of the market and against their
sectors.

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So, what next? When the cat is idle, the mice

will play ....

No stockholder approval needed.. Stockholder Approval needed

When managers do not fear stockholders, they will often put their
interests over stockholder interests
Greenmail: The (managers of ) target of a hostile takeover buy out the
potential acquirer's existing stake, at a price much greater than the price
paid by the raider, in return for the signing of a 'standstill' agreement.
Golden Parachutes: Provisions in employment contracts, that allows for
the payment of a lump-sum or cash flows over a period, if managers
covered by these contracts lose their jobs in a takeover.
Poison Pills: A security, the rights or cashflows on which are triggered
by an outside event, generally a hostile takeover, is called a poison pill.
Shark Repellents: Anti-takeover amendments are also aimed at
dissuading hostile takeovers, but differ on one very important count. They
require the assent of stockholders to be instituted.
Overpaying on takeovers

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Overpaying on takeovers

The quickest and perhaps the most decisive way to impoverish

stockholders is to overpay on a takeover.
The stockholders in acquiring firms do not seem to share the
enthusiasm of the managers in these firms. Stock prices of bidding
firms decline on the takeover announcements a significant proportion
of the time.
Many mergers do not work, as evidenced by a number of measures.
The profitability of merged firms relative to their peer groups, does not
increase significantly after mergers.
An even more damning indictment is that a large number of mergers are
reversed within a few years, which is a clear admission that the
acquisitions did not work.

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A Case Study: Kodak - Sterling Drugs

Eastman Kodaks Great Victory

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Earnings and Revenues at Sterling Drugs

Sterling Drug under Eastman Kodak: Where is the synergy?

5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
1988

1989
Revenue

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1990

1991

1992

Operating Earnings

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Kodak Says Drug Unit Is Not for Sale (NY

Times, 8/93)

An article in the NY Times in August of 1993 suggested that Kodak was eager
to shed its drug unit.

In response, Eastman Kodak officials say they have no plans to sell Kodaks
Sterling Winthrop drug unit.
Louis Mattis, Chairman of Sterling Winthrop, dismissed the rumors as massive
speculation, which flies in the face of the stated intent of Kodak that it is committed
to be in the health business.

A few months laterTaking a stride out of the drug business, Eastman Kodak
said that the Sanofi Group, a French pharmaceutical company, agreed to buy
the prescription drug business of Sterling Winthrop for $1.68 billion.

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Shares of Eastman Kodak rose 75 cents yesterday, closing at $47.50 on the New
York Stock Exchange.
Samuel D. Isaly an analyst , said the announcement was very good for Sanofi and
very good for Kodak.
When the divestitures are complete, Kodak will be entirely focused on imaging,
said George M. C. Fisher, the company's chief executive.
The rest of the Sterling Winthrop was sold to Smithkline for $2.9 billion.
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Application Test: Who owns/runs your firm?

Look at: Bloomberg printout HDS for your firm
Looking at the top 15 stockholders in your firm, are top managers in
your firm also large stockholders in the firm?
Is there any evidence that the top stockholders in the firm play an
active role in managing the firm?

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Disneys top stockholders in 2003

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A confounding factor: Voting versus Non-voting

Shares - Aracruz

Aracruz Cellulose, like most Brazilian companies, had multiple classes

of shares at the end of 2002.
The common shares had all of the voting rights and were held by
incumbent management, lenders to the company and the Brazilian
government.
Outside investors held the non-voting shares, which were called preferred
shares, and had no say in the election of the board of directors. At the end
of 2002,

Aracruz was managed by a board of seven directors, composed

primarily of representatives of those who own the common (voting)
shares, and an executive board, composed of three managers of the
company.

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Another confounding factor Cross and

Pyramid Holdings

In a cross holding structure, the largest stockholder in a company can

be another company. In some cases, companies can hold stock in each
other.
Cross holding structures make it more difficult for stockholders in any
of the companies involved to
decipher what is going on in each of the individual companies
decide which management to blame or reward
change managers even if they can figure out who to blame.

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II. Stockholders' objectives vs. Bondholders'

objectives

In theory: there is no conflict of interests between stockholders and

bondholders.
In practice: Stockholder and bondholders have different objectives.
Bondholders are concerned most about safety and ensuring that they
get paid their claims. Stockholders are more likely to think about
upside potential

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Examples of the conflict..

Increasing dividends significantly: When firms pay cash out as

dividends, lenders to the firm are hurt and stockholders may be helped.
This is because the firm becomes riskier without the cash.
Taking riskier projects than those agreed to at the outset: Lenders base
interest rates on their perceptions of how risky a firms investments
are. If stockholders then take on riskier investments, lenders will be
hurt.
Borrowing more on the same assets: If lenders do not protect
themselves, a firm can borrow more money and make all existing
lenders worse off.

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An Extreme Example: Unprotected Lenders?

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III. Firms and Financial Markets

In theory: Financial markets are efficient. Managers convey

information honestly and and in a timely manner to financial markets,
and financial markets make reasoned judgments of the effects of this
information on 'true value'. As a consequence A company that invests in good long term projects will be rewarded.
Short term accounting gimmicks will not lead to increases in market
value.
Stock price performance is a good measure of company performance.

In practice: There are some holes in the 'Efficient Markets'

assumption.

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Managers control the release of information to

the general public

Information (especially negative) is sometimes suppressed or delayed

by managers seeking a better time to release it.
In some cases, firms release intentionally misleading information
about their current conditions and future prospects to financial
markets.

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Evidence that managers delay bad news..

DO MANAGERS DELAY BAD NEWS?: EPS and DPS Changes- by

Weekday
8.00%
6.00%
4.00%
2.00%
0.00%
-2.00%
-4.00%
-6.00%
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

% Chg(EPS)

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Thursday

Friday

% Chg(DPS)

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Some critiques of market efficiency..

Prices are much more volatile than justified by the underlying

fundamentals. Earnings and dividends are much less volatile than
stock prices.
Financial markets overreact to news, both good and bad.
Financial markets are manipulated by insiders; Prices do not have any
relationship to value.
Financial markets are short-sighted, and do not consider the long-term
implications of actions taken by the firm.

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Are Markets Short term?

Focusing on market prices will lead companies towards short term

decisions at the expense of long term value.
a. I agree with the statement
b. I do not agree with this statement

Allowing managers to make decisions without having to worry about

the effect on market prices will lead to better long term decisions.
a. I agree with this statement
b. I do not agree with this statement

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Are Markets short term? Some evidence

that they are not..

There are hundreds of start-up and small firms, with no earnings

expected in the near future, that raise money on financial
markets. Why would a myopic market that cares only about short
term earnings attach high prices to these firms?
If the evidence suggests anything, it is that markets do not value
current earnings and cashflows enough and value future earnings
and cashflows too much. After all, studies suggest that low PE
stocks are under priced relative to high PE stocks
The market response to research and development and
investment expenditure is generally positive.

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Market Reaction to Investment Announcements

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IV. Firms and Society

In theory: There are no costs associated with the firm that cannot be
traced to the firm and charged to it.
In practice: Financial decisions can create social costs and benefits.
A social cost or benefit is a cost or benefit that accrues to society as a
whole and not to the firm making the decision.
Environmental costs (pollution, health costs, etc..)
Quality of Life' costs (traffic, housing, safety, etc.)

Examples of social benefits include:

creating employment in areas with high unemployment
supporting development in inner cities
creating access to goods in areas where such access does not exist

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Social Costs and Benefits are difficult to

quantify because ..

They might not be known at the time of the decision (Example:

Manville and asbestos)
They are 'person-specific' (different decision makers weight them
differently)
They can be paralyzing if carried to extremes

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A Hypothetical Example

Assume that you work for Disney and that you have an opportunity to
open a store in an inner-city neighborhood. The store is expected to
lose about $100,000 a year, but it will create much-needed
employment in the area, and may help revitalize it.
Would you open the store?
a) Yes
b) No

If yes, would you tell your stockholders and let them vote on the
issue?
a) Yes
b) No

If no, how would you respond to a stockholder query on why you

were not living up to your social responsibilities?

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So this is what can go wrong...

STOCKHOLDERS
Have little control
over managers

Lend Money
BONDHOLDERS

Managers put
their interests
above stockholders

Managers

Significant Social Costs

SOCIETY
Some costs cannot be
traced to firm

Bondholders can
get ripped off
Delay bad
Markets make
news or
mistakes and
provide
misleading can over react
information
FINANCIAL MARKETS

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Traditional corporate financial theory breaks

down when ...

The interests/objectives of the decision makers in the firm conflict with

the interests of stockholders.
Bondholders (Lenders) are not protected against expropriation by
stockholders.
Financial markets do not operate efficiently, and stock prices do not
reflect the underlying value of the firm.
Significant social costs can be created as a by-product of stock price
maximization.

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When traditional corporate financial theory

breaks down, the solution is:

To choose a different mechanism for corporate governance

To choose a different objective for the firm.
To maximize stock price, but reduce the potential for conflict and
breakdown:
Making managers (decision makers) and employees into stockholders
By providing information honestly and promptly to financial markets

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An Alternative Corporate Governance System

Germany and Japan developed a different mechanism for corporate

governance, based upon corporate cross holdings.
In Germany, the banks form the core of this system.
In Japan, it is the keiretsus
Other Asian countries have modeled their system after Japan, with family
companies forming the core of the new corporate families

At their best, the most efficient firms in the group work at bringing the
less efficient firms up to par. They provide a corporate welfare system
that makes for a more stable corporate structure
At their worst, the least efficient and poorly run firms in the group pull
down the most efficient and best run firms down. The nature of the
cross holdings makes its very difficult for outsiders (including
investors in these firms) to figure out how well or badly the group is
doing.

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Choose a Different Objective Function

Firms can always focus on a different objective function. Examples

would include

maximizing earnings
maximizing revenues
maximizing firm size
maximizing market share
maximizing EVA

The key thing to remember is that these are intermediate objective

functions.
To the degree that they are correlated with the long term health and value
of the company, they work well.
To the degree that they do not, the firm can end up with a disaster

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Maximize Stock Price, subject to ..

The strength of the stock price maximization objective function is its

internal self correction mechanism. Excesses on any of the linkages
lead, if unregulated, to counter actions which reduce or eliminate these
excesses
In the context of our discussion,
managers taking advantage of stockholders has lead to a much more
active market for corporate control.
stockholders taking advantage of bondholders has lead to bondholders
protecting themselves at the time of the issue.
firms revealing incorrect or delayed information to markets has lead to
markets becoming more skeptical and punitive
firms creating social costs has lead to more regulations, as well as investor
and customer backlashes.

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The Stockholder Backlash

Institutional investors such as Calpers and the Lens Funds have

become much more active in monitoring companies that they invest in
and demanding changes in the way in which business is done
Individuals like Michael Price specialize in taking large positions in
companies which they feel need to change their ways (Chase, Dow
Jones, Readers Digest) and push for change
At annual meetings, stockholders have taken to expressing their
displeasure with incumbent management by voting against their
compensation contracts or their board of directors

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In response, boards are becoming more

independent

Boards have become smaller over time. The median size of a board of
directors has decreased from 16 to 20 in the 1970s to between 9 and 11 in
1998. The smaller boards are less unwieldy and more effective than the larger
boards.
There are fewer insiders on the board. In contrast to the 6 or more insiders that
many boards had in the 1970s, only two directors in most boards in 1998 were
insiders.
Directors are increasingly compensated with stock and options in the
company, instead of cash. In 1973, only 4% of directors received
compensation in the form of stock or options, whereas 78% did so in 1998.
More directors are identified and selected by a nominating committee rather
than being chosen by the CEO of the firm. In 1998, 75% of boards had
nominating committees; the comparable statistic in 1973 was 2%.

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Disneys Board in 2003

Board Members
Reveta Bowers
John Bryson
Roy Disney
Michael Eisner
Judith Estrin
Stanley Gold
Robert Iger
Monica Lozano
George Mitchell
Thomas S. Murphy
Leo ODonovan
Sidney Poitier
Robert A.M. Stern
Andrea L. Van de Kamp
Raymond L. Watson
Gary L. Wilson

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Occupation
Head of school for the Center for Early Education,
CEO and Chairman of Con Edison
Head of Disney Animation
CEO of Disney
CEO of Packet Design (an internet company)
CEO of Shamrock Holdings
Chief Operating Officer, Disney
Chief Operation Officer, La Opinion (Spanish newspaper)
Chairman of law firm (Verner, Liipfert, et al.)
Ex-CEO, Capital Cities ABC
Professor of Theology, Georgetown University
Actor, Writer and Director
Senior Partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York
Chairman of Sotheby's West Coast
Chairman of Irvine Company (a real estate corporation)
Chairman of the board, Northwest Airlines.

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Changes in corporate governance at Disney

Required at least two executive sessions of the board, without the CEO or
other members of management present, each year.
Created the position of non-management presiding director, and appointed
Senator George Mitchell to lead those executive sessions and assist in setting
the work agenda of the board.
Adopted a new and more rigorous definition of director independence.
Required that a substantial majority of the board be comprised of directors
meeting the new independence standards.
Provided for a reduction in committee size and the rotation of committee and
chairmanship assignments among independent directors.
Added new provisions for management succession planning and evaluations
of both management and board performance
Provided for enhanced continuing education and training for board members.

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The Hostile Acquisition Threat

The typical target firm in a hostile takeover has

a return on equity almost 5% lower than its peer group
had a stock that has significantly under performed the peer group over the
previous 2 years
has managers who hold little or no stock in the firm

In other words, the best defense against a hostile takeover is to run

your firm well and earn good returns for your stockholders
Conversely, when you do not allow hostile takeovers, this is the firm
that you are most likely protecting (and not a well run or well managed
firm)

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What about legislation?

Every corporate scandal creates impetus for a legislative response. The

scandals at Enron and WorldCom laid the groundwork for SarbanesOxley.
You cannot legislate good corporate governance.
The costs of meeting legal requirements exceed the benefits
Laws always have unintended consequences
In general, laws tend to be blunderbusses that penalize good companies
more than they punish the bad companies.

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Is there a payoff to better corporate

governance?

In the most comprehensive study of the effect of corporate governance on

value, a governance index was created for each of 1500 firms based upon 24
distinct corporate governance provisions.

Buying stocks that had the strongest investor protections while simultaneously
selling shares with the weakest protections generated an annual excess return of
8.5%.
Every one point increase in the index towards fewer investor protections decreased
market value by 8.9% in 1999
Firms that scored high in investor protections also had higher profits, higher sales
growth and made fewer acquisitions.

The link between the composition of the board of directors and firm value is
weak. Smaller boards do tend to be more effective.
On a purely anecdotal basis, a common theme at problem companies is an
ineffective board that fails to ask tough questions of an imperial CEO.

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The Bondholders Defense Against Stockholder

Excesses

More restrictive covenants on investment, financing and dividend

policy have been incorporated into both private lending agreements
and into bond issues, to prevent future Nabiscos.
New types of bonds have been created to explicitly protect
bondholders against sudden increases in leverage or other actions that
increase lender risk substantially. Two examples of such bonds
Puttable Bonds, where the bondholder can put the bond back to the firm
and get face value, if the firm takes actions that hurt bondholders
Ratings Sensitive Notes, where the interest rate on the notes adjusts to that
appropriate for the rating of the firm

More hybrid bonds (with an equity component, usually in the form of

a conversion option or warrant) have been used. This allows
bondholders to become equity investors, if they feel it is in their best
interests to do so.

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The Financial Market Response

While analysts are more likely still to issue buy rather than sell
recommendations, the payoff to uncovering negative news about a
firm is large enough that such news is eagerly sought and quickly
revealed (at least to a limited group of investors).
As investor access to information improves, it is becoming much more
difficult for firms to control when and how information gets out to
markets.
As option trading has become more common, it has become much
easier to trade on bad news. In the process, it is revealed to the rest of
the market.
When firms mislead markets, the punishment is not only quick but it is
savage.

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The Societal Response

If firms consistently flout societal norms and create large social costs,
the governmental response (especially in a democracy) is for laws and
regulations to be passed against such behavior.
For firms catering to a more socially conscious clientele, the failure to
meet societal norms (even if it is legal) can lead to loss of business and
value
Finally, investors may choose not to invest in stocks of firms that they
view as social outcasts.

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The Counter Reaction

STOCKHOLDERS
1. More activist
investors
2. Hostile takeovers

Managers of poorly
run firms are put
on notice.

Protect themselves
BONDHOLDERS
1. Covenants
2. New Types

Managers

Firms are
punished
for misleading
markets

Corporate Good Citizen Constraints

SOCIETY
1. More laws
2. Investor/Customer Backlash

Investors and
analysts become
more skeptical

FINANCIAL MARKETS

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So what do you think?

At this point in time, the following statement best describes where I

stand in terms of the right objective function for decision making in a
business
a) Maximize stock price or stockholder wealth, with no constraints
b) Maximize stock price or stockholder wealth, with constraints on being a
good social citizen.
c) Maximize profits or profitability
d) Maximize market share
e) Maximize Revenues
f) Maximize social good
g) None of the above

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The Modified Objective Function

For publicly traded firms in reasonably efficient markets, where

bondholders (lenders) are protected:
Maximize Stock Price: This will also maximize firm value

For publicly traded firms in inefficient markets, where bondholders are

protected:
Maximize stockholder wealth: This will also maximize firm value, but
might not maximize the stock price

For publicly traded firms in inefficient markets, where bondholders are

not fully protected
Maximize firm value, though stockholder wealth and stock prices may not
be maximized at the same point.

For private firms, maximize stockholder wealth (if lenders are

protected) or firm value (if they are not)

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