Lingenburger Cheese Corporation has 7.4 million shares of common stock outstanding, 270,000 shares of 4.6 percent preferred stock outstanding, and 155,000 bonds with a semiannual coupon rate of 5.5 percent outstanding, par value $2,000 each. The common stock currently sells for $63 per share and has a beta of 1.05, the preferred stock has a par value of $100 and currently sells for $93 per share, and the bonds have 17 years to maturity and sell for 107 percent of par. The market risk premium is 7.3 percent, T-bills are yielding 3.3 percent, and the company’s tax rate is 23 percent. a. What is the firm’s market value capital structure? b. If the company is evaluating a new investment project that has the same risk as the firm’s typical project, what rate should the firm use to discount the project’s cash flows?
