Chapter 6

Interest Rates
And Bond Valuation
 Learning Goals

1. Describe interest rate fundamentals, the term structure of

interest rates, and risk premiums.
2. Review the legal aspects of bond financing and bond cost.
3. Discuss the general features, yields, prices, popular types of
corporate bonds.
4. Understand the key inputs and basic model used in the
valuation process.
5. Apply the basic valuation model to bonds and describe the
impact of required return and time to maturity on bond values.
6. Explain the yield to maturity (YTM), its calculation, and the
procedure used to value bonds that pay interest semiannually.

6-2
Interest Rates & Required Returns

• The interest rate or required return represents the

price of money.
• Interest rates act as a regulating device that controls the
flow of money between suppliers and demanders of
funds.
• The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System regularly asses economic conditions and, when
necessary, initiate actions to change interest rates to
control inflation and economic growth.

6-3
 Interest Rates & Required Returns:
Interest Rate Fundamentals

• Interest rates represent the compensation that a

demander of funds must pay a supplier.
• When funds are lent, the cost of borrowing is the
interest rate.
• When funds are raised by issuing stocks or
bonds, the cost the company must pay is called
the required return, which reflects the suppliers
expected level of return.

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Interest Rates & Required Returns: The
Real Rate of Interest

• The real interest rate is the rate that creates an

equilibrium between the supply of savings and the
demand for investment funds in a perfect world.
• In this context, a perfect world is one in which there is
no inflation, where suppliers and demanders have no
liquidity preference, and where all outcomes are
certain.
• The supply-demand relationship that determines the
real rate is shown in Figure 6.1 on the following slide.

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Interest Rates & Required Returns:
Inflation and the Cost of Money

• Ignoring risk factors, the cost of funds is closely tied to

inflationary expectations.
• The risk-free rate of interest, RF, which is typically
measured by a 3-month U.S. Treasury bill (T-bill)
compensates investors only for the real rate of return
and for the expected rate of inflation.
• The relationship between the annual rate of inflation
and the return on T-bills is shown on the following
slide.

6-6
Interest Rates & Required Returns:
Nominal or Actual Rate of Interest (Return)

• The nominal rate of interest is the actual rate of

interest charged by the supplier of funds and paid by
the demander.
• The nominal rate differs from the real rate of interest,
k* as a result of two factors:
– Inflationary expectations reflected in an inflation premium
(IP), and
– Issuer and issue characteristics such as default risks and
contractual provisions as reflected in a risk premium (RP).

6-7
Interest Rates & Required Returns: Nominal
or Actual Rate of Interest (Return) (cont.)

• Using this notation, the nominal rate of interest for

security 1, r1 is given in equation 6.1, and is further
defined in equations 6.2 and 6.3.

6-8
 Term Structure of Interest Rates

• The term structure of interest rates relates the interest

rate to the time to maturity for securities with a
common default risk profile.
• Typically, treasury securities are used to construct yield
curves since all have zero risk of default.
• However, yield curves could also be constructed with
AAA or BBB corporate bonds or other types of similar
risk securities.

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Risk Premiums:
Issue and Issuer Characteristics (cont.)

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 Bonds
 A bond is a long-term debt instrument issued by a corporation
or government.
 A bond is a Long term contract under which borrowers agrees
to make payments of interest and principal on specific dates
to the bond holder.
 Types of Bonds
 Treasury Bonds :
o Bonds issued by the government
o No default risk
 Corporate Bonds:
o Bonds issued by the corporations
o Exposed to default risk
 Municipal Bonds:
o Issued by state or local government
o It has default risk and low interest rate
 Foreign Bonds:
o Default risk is involved
o Currency risk
 Characteristics of Bonds

 The bond’s coupon rate is the stated rate of interest.

• The maturity value (MV) [Par value or face value] of a

bond is the stated value. It represents the amount of money
the firm borrows or promises to repay on maturity date

• The discount rate (required rate of return) is dependent on the

risk of the bond and is composed of the risk-free rate plus a
premium for risk.
 Characteristics of Bonds

• Maturity date - Bonds have specified maturity

date on which the par value be repaid
• Provisions to Call (or redeem bonds) –
• Call Price
• Call premium
• Deferred call and Call protection
• Call redemtion
• Convertible Bonds
• Bonds with purchase warrants
• Income Bonds
 Different Types of Bonds

A non-zero coupon-paying bond is a coupon-

paying bond with a finite life.

A zero-coupon bond is a bond that pays no interest but

sells at a deep discount from its face value.
Legal Aspects of Bonds

Indenture Truste
e
Bond Ratings

• Bonds are given ratings to reflect their probability of

going into default.
RATING IMPORTANCE
AAA Investment grade bonds
AA (high quality bonds, less risk)
A
BBB
BB Speculative bonds
CCC (high risk , low cost)
CC
C
D In default
Bond Ratings

• Ratings effects the stability and cost

• International credit rating agencies:

• Moody’s International
• Standards and Poors Inc.
• CRA in Pakistan:
• PACRA
• JCR-VIS
Corporate Bonds

• A bond is a long-term debt instrument that pays the bondholder

a specified amount of periodic interest rate over a specified
period of time.
• The bond’s principal is the amount borrowed by the company
and the amount owed to the bond holder on the maturity date.
• The bond’s maturity date is the time at which a bond becomes
due and the principal must be repaid.
• The bond’s coupon rate is the specified interest rate (or $
amount) that must be periodically paid.

6-19
Legal Aspects of Corporate Bonds

• The bond indenture is a legal document that specifies

both the rights of the bondholders and the duties of the
issuing corporation.
• Standard debt provisions in the indenture specify
certain record keeping and general business procedures
that the issuer must follow.
• Restrictive debt provisions are contractual clauses in a
bond indenture that place operating and financial
constraints on the borrower.

6-20
Corporate Bonds (cont.)

• The bond’s current yield is the annual interest

(income) divided by the current price of the security.
• The bond’s yield-to-maturity is the yield (expressed as
a compound rate of return) earned on a bond from the
time it is acquired until the maturity date of the bond.
• A yield curve graphically shows the relationship
between the time to maturity and yields for debt in a
given risk class.

6-21
Legal Aspects of Corporate Bonds (cont.)

• Common restrictive covenants include provisions that

specify:
– Minimum equity levels
– Prohibition against factoring receivables
– Fixed asset restrictions
– Constraints on subsequent borrowing
– Limitations on cash dividends.
• In general, violations of restrictive covenants give
bondholders the right to demand immediate repayment.

6-22
Legal Aspects of Corporate Bonds (cont.)

• Sinking fund requirements are restrictive provisions

often included in bond indentures that provide for the
systematic retirement of bonds prior to their maturity.
• The bond indenture identifies any collateral (security)
pledged against the bond and specifies how it is to be
maintained.
• A trustee is a paid individual, corporation, or
commercial bank trust department that acts as the third
party to a bond indenture.

6-23
Corporate Bonds:
Cost of Bonds to the Issuer

• In general, the longer the bond’s maturity, the higher

the interest rate (or cost) to the firm.
• In addition, the larger the size of the offering, the
lower will be the cost (in % terms) of the bond.
• Also, the greater the risk of the issuing firm, the
higher the cost of the issue.
• Finally, the cost of money in the capital market is the
basis form determining a bond’s coupon interest rate.

6-24
Corporate Bonds: General Features

• The conversion feature of convertible bonds allows

bondholders to exchange their bonds for a specified
number of shares of common stock.
• Bondholders will exercise this option only when the
market price of the stock is greater than the conversion
price.
• A call feature, which is included in most corporate
issues, gives the issuer the opportunity to repurchase
the bond prior to maturity at the call price.

6-25
Corporate Bonds:
General Features (cont.)

• In general, the call premium is equal to one year of

coupon interest and compensates the holder for having
it called prior to maturity.
• Furthermore, issuers will exercise the call feature when
interest rates fall and the issuer can refund the issue at a
lower cost.
• Issuers typically must pay a higher rate to investors for
the call feature compared to issues without the feature.

6-26
Corporate Bonds:
General Features (cont.)

• Bonds also are occasionally issued with stock

purchase warrants attached to them to make them
more attractive to investors.
• Warrants give the bondholder the right to purchase a
certain number of shares of the same firm’s common
stock at a specified price during a specified period of
time.
• Including warrants typically allows the firm to raise
debt capital at a lower cost than would be possible in
their absence.

6-27
Corporate Bonds: Bond Yields

• A bond’s yield or rate of return is frequently

used to assess its performance over a given
period, typically 1 year.
• The three most widely cited yields are:
– Current yield
– Yield to maturity (YTM)
– Yield to call (YTC)

6-28
Corporate Bonds: Bond Prices

• Because most corporate bonds are purchased and held

by institutional investors, bond trading and price data is
not readily available to individuals.
• Although most corporate bonds are issued with a par or
face value of $1,000, all bonds are quoted as a
percentage of par.
• See Table 6.2

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Valuation Fundamentals

• The (market) value of any investment asset is simply the

present value of expected cash flows.
• The interest rate that these cash flows are discounted at is
called the asset’s required return.
• The required return is a function of the expected rate of
inflation and the perceived risk of the asset.
• Higher perceived risk results in a higher required return and
lower asset market values.

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Basic Valuation Model

6-31
Basic Valuation Model (cont.)

Table 6.6 Valuation of Assets by Celia Sargent

6-32
Bond Valuation: Bond Fundamentals

• A noted earlier, bonds are long-term debt

instruments used by businesses and government
to raise large sums of money, typically from a
diverse group of lenders.
• Most bonds pay interest semiannually at a stated
coupon interest rate, have an initial maturity of
10 to 30 years, and have a par value of $1,000
that must be repaid at maturity.

6-33
Bond Valuation: Basic Bond Valuation

Mills Company, a large defense contractor, on January 1,

2007, issued a 10% coupon interest rate, 10-year bond
with a $1,000 par value that pays interest semiannually.

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Bond Valuation: Bond Fundamentals

6-35
Bond Valuation:
Bond Fundamentals (cont.)

Table 6.7 Bond Values for Various Required Returns

(Mills Company’s 10% Coupon Interest Rate, 10-Year
Maturity, $1,000 Par, January 1, 2010, Issue Paying
Annual Interest)

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Yield to Maturity (YTM)

• The yield to maturity measures the compound annual

return to an investor and considers all bond cash flows.
It is essentially the bond’s IRR based on the current
price.
• Note that the yield to maturity will only be equal if the
bond is selling for its face value ($1,000).
• And that rate will be the same as the bond’s coupon
rate.
• For premium bonds, the current yield > YTM.
• For discount bonds, the current yield < YTM.

6-37
Yield to Maturity (YTM) (cont.)

The Mills Company bond, which currently sells for $1,080, has a
10% coupon interest rate and $1,000 par value, pays interest
annually, and has 10 years to maturity. What is the bond’s YTM?

$1,080 = $100 x (PVIFArd,10yrs) + $1,000 x (PVIFrd,10yrs)

6-38
Yield to Maturity (YTM): Semiannual Interest
and Bond Values

6-39
Yield to Maturity (YTM): Semiannual Interest
and Bond Values (cont.)

Assuming that the Mills Company bond pays interest

semiannually and that the required stated annual return, kd is
12% for similar risk bonds that also pay semiannual interest,
substituting these values into Equation 6.8a yields

6-40
Coupon Effects on Price Volatility

• The amount of bond price volatility depends on three

basic factors:
– length of time to maturity
– risk
– amount of coupon interest paid by the bond
• First, we already have seen that the longer the term to
maturity, the greater is a bond’s volatility
• Second, the riskier a bond, the more variable the
required return will be, resulting in greater price
volatility.

6-41
Coupon Effects on Price Volatility
(cont.)

• Finally, the amount of coupon interest also

impacts a bond’s price volatility.
• Specifically, the lower the coupon, the greater
will be the bond’s volatility, because it will be
longer before the investor receives a significant
portion of the cash flow from his or her
investment.

6-42
Current Yield

• The Current Yield measures the annual return to an

investor based on the current price.
Current = Annual Coupon Interest
Yield Current Market Price

For example, a 10% coupon bond which is currently

selling at $1,150 would have a current yield of:

Current = $100 = 8.7%

Yield $1,150

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Summary

Summary of Key
Valuation
Definitions and
Formulas for Any
Asset and for
Bonds

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