Bonds, Bond Valuation, and

Interest Rates

1
Topics in Chapter
◼ Key features of bonds
◼ Bond valuation
◼ Measuring yield
◼ Assessing risk

2
Key Features of a Bond
◼ Par value: Face amount; paid at
maturity. Assume $1,000.
◼ Coupon interest rate: Stated interest
rate. Multiply by par value to get
dollars of interest. Generally fixed.

3
◼ Maturity: Years until bond must be
repaid. Declines.
◼ Issue date: Date when bond was
issued.
◼ Default risk: Risk that issuer will not
make interest or principal payments.

4
Call Provision
◼ Issuer can refund if rates decline. That
helps the issuer but hurts the investor.
◼ Therefore, borrowers are willing to pay
more, and lenders require more, on
callable bonds.
◼ Most bonds have a deferred call and a
declining call premium.

5
What’s a sinking fund?
◼ Provision to pay off a loan over its life
rather than all at maturity.
◼ Similar to amortization on a term loan.
◼ Reduces risk to investor, shortens
average maturity.
◼ But not good for investors if rates
decline after issuance.

6
Sinking funds are generally
handled in 2 ways
◼ Call x% at par per year for sinking
fund purposes.
◼ Call if rd is below the coupon rate and bond
sells at a premium.
◼ Buy bonds on open market.
◼ Use open market purchase if rd is above
coupon rate and bond sells at a discount.

7
 Value of a 10-year, 10%
coupon bond if rd = 10%

0 1 2 10
10% ...
V=? 100 100 100 + 1,000

$100 $100 $1,000

VB = + . . . + +
(1 + rd)1 (1 + rd)N (1 + rd)N

= $90.91 + . . . + $38.55 + $385.54

= $1,000.
8
 The bond consists of a 10-year, 10%
annuity of $100/year plus a $1,000 lump
sum at t = 10:

PV annuity = $ 614.46
PV maturity value = 385.54
Value of bond = $1,000.00

INPUTS
10 10 100 1000
N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT -1,000

9
 What would happen if expected inflation
rose by 3%, causing r = 13%?

INPUTS 10 13 100 1000

N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT -837.21

When rd rises, above the coupon rate, the

bond’s value falls below par, so it sells at
a discount.
10
 What would happen if inflation
fell, and rd declined to 7%?

INPUTS 10 7 100 1000

N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT -1,210.71

If coupon rate > rd, price rises above par,

and bond sells at a premium.

11
◼ Suppose the bond was issued 20 years
ago and now has 10 years to maturity.
What would happen to its value over
time if the required rate of return
remained at 10%, or at 13%, or at 7%?
◼ See next slide.

12
Bond Value ($) vs Years
remaining to Maturity

1,372 rd = 7%.
1,211

rd = 10%. M
1,000

837
rd = 13%.
775

13
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
◼ At maturity, the value of any bond must
equal its par value.
◼ The value of a premium bond would
decrease to $1,000.
◼ The value of a discount bond would
increase to $1,000.
◼ A par bond stays at $1,000 if rd remains
constant.

14
What’s “yield to maturity”?
◼ YTM is the rate of return earned on a
bond held to maturity. Also called
“promised yield.”
◼ It assumes the bond will not default.

15
 YTM on a 10-year, 9% annual coupon,
$1,000 par value bond selling for $887

0 1 9 10
rd=?
...
90 90 90
PV1 1,000
.
.
.
PV10
PVM
887 Find rd that “works”!
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◼ If coupon rate < rd, bond sells at a
discount.
◼ If coupon rate = rd, bond sells at its par
value.
◼ If coupon rate > rd, bond sells at a
premium.
◼ If rd rises, price falls.
◼ Price = par at maturity.
17
 Find YTM if price were
$1,134.20.

INPUTS 10 -1134.2 90 1000

N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT 7.08

Sells at a premium. Because

coupon = 9% > rd = 7.08%,
bond’s value > par.

18
 Definitions
Annual coupon pmt
Current yield = Current price

Capital gains yield = Change in price

Beginning price

Exp total Exp Exp cap

= YTM = +
return Curr yld gains yld
19
 9% coupon, 10-year bond, P =
$887, and YTM = 10.91%

$90
Current yield = $887

= 0.1015 = 10.15%.

20
YTM = Current yield + Capital
gains yield.

Cap gains yield = YTM - Current yield

= 10.91% - 10.15%
= 0.76%.

Could also find values in Years 1 and 2,

get difference, and divide by value in
Year 1. Same answer.
21
 Semiannual Bonds

1. Multiply years by 2 to get periods = 2N.

2. Divide nominal rate by 2 to get periodic
rate = rd/2.
3. Divide annual INT by 2 to get PMT =
INT/2.
INPUTS 2N rd/2 OK INT/2 OK
N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT
22
 Value of 10-year, 10% coupon,
semiannual bond if rd = 13%.

2(10) 13/2 100/2

INPUTS 20 6.5 50 1000
N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT -834.72

23
Callable Bonds and Yield to
Call
◼ A 10-year, 10% semiannual coupon,
$1,000 par value bond is selling for
$1,135.90 with an 8% yield to maturity.
It can be called after 5 years at $1,050.

24
Nominal Yield to Call (YTC)

INPUTS 10 -1135.9 50 1050

N I/YR PV PMT FV
OUTPUT 3.765 x 2 = 7.53%

25
If you bought bonds, would you be
more likely to earn YTM or YTC?
◼ Coupon rate = 10% vs. YTC = rd =
7.53%. Could raise money by selling
new bonds which pay 7.53%.
◼ Could thus replace bonds which pay
$100/year with bonds that pay only
$75.30/year.
◼ Investors should expect a call, hence
YTC = 7.5%, not YTM = 8%.

26
◼ In general, if a bond sells at a premium,
then coupon > rd, so a call is likely.
◼ So, expect to earn:
◼ YTC on premium bonds.
◼ YTM on par & discount bonds.

27
rd = r* + IP + DRP + LP +
MRP.
Here:
rd = Required rate of return on a debt
security.
r* = Real risk-free rate.
IP = Inflation premium.
DRP = Default risk premium.
LP = Liquidity premium.
MRP = Maturity risk premium.

28
What is the nominal risk-free
rate?
◼ rRF = (1+r*)(1+IP)-1
= r*+ IP + (r*xIP)
≈ r*+ IP. (Because r*xIP is small)
◼ rRF = Rate on Treasury securities.

29
Estimating IP
◼ Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities
(TIPS) are indexed to inflation.
◼ The IP for a particular length maturity
can be approximated as the difference
between the yield on a non-indexed
Treasury security of that maturity minus
the yield on a TIPS of that maturity.

30
Bond Spreads, the DRP, and
the LP
◼ A “bond spread” is often calculated as the
difference between a corporate bond’s yield
and a Treasury security’s yield of the same
maturity. Therefore:
◼ Spread = DRP + LP.
◼ Bond’s of large, strong companies often have
very small LPs. Bond’s of small companies
often have LPs as high as 2%.

31
What factors affect default risk
and bond ratings?
◼ Financial ratios
◼ Debt ratio
◼ Coverage ratios, such as interest coverage
ratio or EBITDA coverage ratio
◼ Profitability ratios
◼ Current ratios

32
Other Factors that Affect Bond
Ratings
◼ Provisions in the bond contract
◼ Secured versus unsecured debt
◼ Senior versus subordinated debt
◼ Guarantee provisions
◼ Sinking fund provisions
◼ Debt maturity

33
◼ Other factors
◼ Earnings stability
◼ Regulatory environment
◼ Potential product liability
◼ Accounting policies

34
 Interest rate (or price) risk for 1-
year and 10-year 10% bonds

Interest rate risk: Rising rd causes

bond’s price to fall.
rd 1-year Change 10-year Change
5% $1,048 $1,386
4.8% 38.6%
10% 1,000 1,000
4.4% 25.1%
15% 956 749
35
Value

1,500 10-year

1,000 1-year

500

0 rd
0% 5% 10% 15% 36
What is reinvestment rate
risk?
◼ The risk that CFs will have to be
reinvested in the future at lower rates,
reducing income.
◼ Illustration: Suppose you just won
$500,000. You’ll invest the money and
live off the interest. You buy a 1-year
bond with a YTM of 10%.

37
◼ Year 1 income = $50,000. At year-end
get back $500,000 to reinvest.
◼ If rates fall to 3%, income will drop
from $50,000 to $15,000. Had you
bought 30-year bonds, income would
have remained constant.

38
The Maturity Risk Premium
◼ Long-term bonds: High interest rate risk, low
reinvestment rate risk.
◼ Short-term bonds: Low interest rate risk,
high reinvestment rate risk.
◼ Nothing is riskless!
◼ Yields on longer term bonds usually are
greater than on shorter term bonds, so the
MRP is more affected by interest rate risk
than by reinvestment rate risk.

39
Term Structure Yield Curve
◼ Term structure of interest rates: the
relationship between interest rates (or
yields) and maturities.
◼ A graph of the term structure is called
the yield curve.

40
Hypothetical Treasury Yield
Curve
14%
12%
Interest Rate

10%
MRP
8%
IP
6%
r*
4%
2%
0%
1

11

13

15

17

19
Years to Maturity

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