TESTS OF THE BLACK-SCHOLES AND CONSTANT ELASTICITY OF VARIANCE CURRENCY CALL OPTION VALUATION MODELS

An adaptation of the Cox-Ross/Emanuel-MacBeth call option valuation model for constant elasticity of variance diffusion processes is tested here against an adaptation of the Black-Scholes call option valuation model for the pricing of call currency options. Synchronized transactions data supplied by the Philadelphia Exchange are used. A maximum likelihood estimation procedure indicates a significant association between currency return variances and exchange rate levels. The constant elasticity of variance model exhibits significantly superior pricing accuracy for predictive intervals of three or fewer trading days.     

MANAGERIAL OWNERSHIP CHANGE AND FIRM VALUE: EVIDENCE FROM DUAL-CLASS RECAPITALIZATIONS AND INSIDER TRADING

We explore the relation between managerial ownership and firm value by examining a sample of firms that announce dual-class recapitalizations and the insider trading activity that precedes these announcements. Insider trading activity, unlike recapitalization, requires managers to commit their personal wealth and therefore serves as an indicator of the motivation behind the recapitalization. The recapitalization, in effect, allows managers to magnify the increase in vote ownership that results from insider buying and offsets the decrease in vote ownership that results from insider selling. This study adds to our understanding of dual-class recapitalizations by linking the wealth effects and changes in ownership concentration with ***manager-shareholder agency issues that follow from recapitalization and insider trading activity. Results show a positive relation between the change in firm value and ownership for recapitalizations before the 1984 New York Stock Exchange moratorium on delisting dual-class firms when ownership was high and control was firmly established. Results show a negative relation for recapitalizations since 1984 when ownership levels were lower and voting control was not assured. These results support the notion that more recent recapitalizations entrench managers.     

VALUE-AT-RISK AND CORPORATE VALUATION

Although first used mainly by financial institutions to evaluate their trading risks, Value-at-Risk (VAR) can also be used to enhance an industrial corporation's understanding and management of its market risks. To illustrate this broader application of VAR analysis, the authors present a simple example focusing on the valuation of a closely held company. In this case, VAR is used to analyze the sensitivity of the firm's value to movements in uncertain exchange rates, commodity prices, and interest rates.     

VALUATION AND RISK-ADJUSTED DISCOUNT RATES

There is a continuing controversy as to whether the use of a constant risk adjusted discount rate in capital budgeting decisions implies that the risk of the cash flows increases over time. This paper shows that valuation using these discount rates implies an increasing premium for risk over time but that the increasing premium is due to the net impact of the uncertainty in the cash flow; uncertainty in future market expectations of the cash flow; and changes in the market price of risk. The risk of the cash flow itself need not be increasing over time.     

CORPORATE TAKEOVER BARRIERS: VALUATION AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

This study provides additional evidence on the share price effect of takeover barriers such as antitakeover charter amendments, dual classes of common stock, and poison pill plans. The share price reaction to the construction of takeover barriers is found to be negative but insignificant. However, when disaggregated by type, significant negative share price reactions are found on construction of poison pill plans. New evidence on the possible relationship between firm performance and takeover barrier construction is also presented. The results of this study suggest that management of 'efficiently-run' firms may construct takeover barriers to deter value-diminishing takeovers.     

FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND CROSS-BORDER VALUATION

Should a corporate financial manager analyze a cross-border investment proposal from the perspective of the foreign currency or the home currency? The conventional wisdom among economists is that it doesn't matter–the valuation of an asset should be the same in one currency as in another, given the spot FX rate. This assertion implies that it is irrelevant whether we analyze an overseas investment's NPV in the home currency or the foreign currency, as long as we use consistent cross-border conversions.
But what happens if managers' foreign exchange forecasts differ from the efficient markets forecast that is implicit in interest rates? In that case, as this article demonstrates through a series of examples, managers' FX forecasts can affect their investment, hedging, and financing decisions.     

VALUATION IMPLICATIONS OF EXCEPTIONAL AND EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS

This paper uses a valuation framework to examine whether exceptional and extraordinary items (as traditionally defined) have the same valuation implications with income from ordinary activities. British company data covering an 11-year (1980–90) period are used. The empirical model used in the study posits a log-log relationship between income from ordinary activities, exceptional and extraordinary items, and book value of equity at the previous accounting year-end and market prices. There is some evidence that both exceptional and extraordinary items are priced by the market and that extraordinary items may not be combined with exceptional items or with income from ordinary activities.     

PERSONAL TAXES,INFLATION AND MARKET VALUATION

In an inflation-non-indexed progressive tax system, inflation results in a “bracket-creep” effect that reduces the demand for corporate debt while the tax-deductibility of nominal interest makes the use of debt financing cheaper. The interactive effect of inflation and differential dividend and capital gains taxes on the value of a levered firm is analyzed in this paper. Under a non-indexed progressive tax system, inflation decreases the value of the unlevered firm but the effect of inflation on the firm's debt-to-asset ratio is theoretically indeterminate. The gain from leverage is also derived and compared with other valuation models.