CFA Institute CFA-Level-II Exam Questions

Mary Andrews and Drew McClure are economists for Gasden Econometrics. Gasden provides economic consulting and forecasting services for governments, corporations and small businesses. Andrews and McClure are currently consulting for the developing country of Wakulla, which is considering imposing new regulations on its businesses.

Due to increases in industrial production in the country, the demand for electricity has increased. Unfortunately the cost of electricity has increased as well, and the Wakullian government is considering regulating the electrical utility industry by limiting the amount producers can charge. The price limits would be established so that the utilities can set their own prices as long as they do not earn a return on invested capital that is higher than the average Wakullian business.

The Wakullian government has also proposed stiffer environmental regulations on its firms because the level of air quality has declined in its largest cities. Andrews advises that this regulation is likely to increase production costs that will burden smaller businesses more than larger businesses, and thus can adversely affect competition within an industry. The higher production cost from the environmental regulation will ultimately be borne by consumers, she asserts.

One of the concerns of the Wakullian government is that previous regulation of the economy has been ineffective. For example, when the automobile industry was required to increase the fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles, they increased the weight of some vehicles so more could be classified as trucks, instead of passenger vehicles. The trucks were not subject to the regulation and as a result, fuel efficiency actually declined in the country due to the heavier weight of trucks. McClure comments that the regulation should have been written so that the regulation would be more effective.

McClure gives another example of an ineffective regulation from the automobile industry. When airbags were required in automobiles, consumers started wearing their seat belt less often and driving at higher speeds because the airbags gave them a feeling of greater safety. Consequently, driving fatalities and injuries did not decline as much as expected.

Some regulation, Andrews states, is limited in effectiveness when the regulators are chosen from the industry that is regulated. For example, Andrews states that, due to the level of scientific knowledge needed, many regulatory bodies for the pharmaceutical industry are dominated by former drug company executives and scientists. She states that, according to the share-the-gains, share-the-pains theory, regulatory decisions tend to favor the drug industry because of the close relationship between the industry and the regulator.

McClure adds that another example of regulatory ineffectiveness is when telephone companies go before their regulatory bodies to ask for rate increases. He states ihat according to the capture hypothesis, telephone companies will have greater economic resources and more at stake than individual consumers. As a result, the regulatory decisions tend to favor the telephone industry.

The Wakullian government is considering some of the country's industries. To illustrate the potential costs and benefits of deregulation to the Wakullian government, Andrews and McClure compose a matrix of the potential consequences of deregulation. In the matrix, three scenarios of possible economic consequences are presented in Exhibit 1.

Which of the following terms best describes the response of consumers to the auto safety regulation?

High Plains Tubular Company is a leading manufacturer and distributor of quality steel products used in energy, industrial, and automotive applications worldwide.

The U .S . steel industry has been challenged by competition from foreign producers located primarily in Asia. All of the U .S . producers are experiencing declining margins as labor costs continue to increase. In addition, the U .S . steel mills arc technologically inferior to the foreign competitors. Also, the U .S . producers have significant environmental issues that remain unresolved.

High Plains is not immune from the problems of the industry and is currently in technical default under its bond covenants. The default is a result of the failure to meet certain coverage and turnover ratios. Earlier this year, High Plains and its bondholders entered into an agreement that will allow High Plains time to become compliant with the covenants. If High Plains is not in compliance by year end, the bondholders can immediately accelerate the maturity date of the bonds. In this case. High Plains would have no choice but to file bankruptcy.

High Plains follows U .S . GAAP. For the year ended 2008, High Plains received an unqualified opinion from its independent auditor. However, the auditor's opinion included an explanatory paragraph about High Plains' inability to continue as a going concern in the event its bonds remain in technical default.

At the end of 2008, High Plains' Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) filed the necessary certifications required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

To get a better understanding of High Plains' financial situation, it is helpful to review High Plains' cash flow statement found in Exhibit 1 and selected financial footnotes found in Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2: Selected Financial Footnotes

1. During 2008, High Plains' sales increased 27% over 2007. Its sales growth continues to significantly exceed the industry average. Sales are recognized when a firm order is received from the customer, the sales price is fixed and determinable, and collectability is reasonably assured.

2. The cost of inventories is determined using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method. Had the first-in, first-out method been used, inventories would have been $152 million and $143 million higher as of December 31,2008 and 2007, respectively.

3. Effective January 1, 2008, High Plains changed its depreciation method from the double-declining balance method to the straight-line method in order to be more comparable with the accounting practices of other firms within its industry. The change was not retroactively applied and only affects assets that were acquired on or after January 1,2008.

4. High Plains made the following discretionary expenditures for maintenance and repair of plant and equipment and for advertising and marketing:

5. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, High Plains sold $50 million of its accounts receivable, with recourse, to an unrelated entity. All of the receivables were still outstanding at year end.

6. High Plains conducts some of its operations in facilities leased under noncancelable capital leases. Certain leases include renewal options with provisions for increased lease payments during the renewal term.

7. High Plains' average net operating assets at the end of 2008 and 2007 was $977.89 million and $642.83 million, respectively.

Which of the following statements about evaluating High Plains financial reporting quality is least accurate?

Amie Lear, CFA, is a quantitative analyst employed by a brokerage firm. She has been assigned by her supervisor to cover a number of different equity and debt investments. One of the investments is Taylor, Inc. (Taylor), a manufacturer of a wide range of children's toys. Based on her extensive analysis, she determines that her expected return on the stock, given Taylor's risks, is 10%. In applying the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), the result is a 12% rate of return.

For her analysis of the returns of Devon, Inc. (Devon), a manufacturer of high-end sports apparel, Lear intends to use the Fama-French model (FFM). Devon is a small-cap growth stock that has traded at a low market-to-book value in recent years. Lear's analysis has provided a wealth of quantitative information to consider. The return on a value-weighted market index minus the risk-free rate is 5.5%, the small-cap return premium is 3.1%, the value return premium is 2.2%, and the liquidity premium is 3.3%. The risk-free rate is 3.4%. The market, size, relative value, and liquidity betas for Devon are 0.7, -0.3, 1.4, and 1.2, respectively. In estimating the appropriate equity risk premium, Lear has chosen to use the Gordon growth model.

Lear's assistant, Doug Saunders, presents her with a report on macroeconomic multifactor models that includes the following two statements:

Statement 1: Business cycle risk represents the unexpected change in the difference between the return of risky corporate bonds and government bonds.

Statement 2: Confidence risk represents the unexpected change in the level of real business activity.

Lear is also attempting to determine the most appropriate method for determining the required return for Densmore, Inc. (Densmore), a closely held company that is considering a debt issue within the next year. The company has not previously issued debt securities to the public, relying instead on bank financing. She realizes that there are a number of models to consider, including the CAPM, multifactor models, and build-up models.

According to the FFM, the estimate of the required return for Devon is closest to:

Jerry Sanders, CFA, has been asked to analyze the 20-year bonds of Marietta Tech, Inc., which are currently being held in a corporate bond portfolio managed by a colleague, and to recommend whether the bonds should be sold or held. The bonds currently have a yield spread of 1.55% over Treasuries.

Marietta Tech, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets specialty trucks and truck bodies mounted on new truck chassis produced by others, including concrete mixers, refuse bodies, fire and emergency vehicles, defense trucks, cut-away and dry freight van bodies, refrigerated units, stake bodies, and other specialized trucks. Marietta also manufactures fiberglass wind deflectors, armored trucks, shuttle buses, and cargo vans. Marietta's customers are located in the United States and Canada.

Exhibit 1: Selected Financial Data for Marietta Tech, Inc. (in thousands of $)

At lunch Sanders discusses the credit analysis of various types of bonds with Elizabeth Yan, who was just hired as a bond analyst. Yan makes the following statements:

Statement 1: An analysis of the issuer's business and operating risks is important to the analysis of corporate bond credit risk but not important for the credit analysis of asset backed securities (ABS).

Statement 2: The unique bond covenants in a municipal bond's trust indenture require an additional level of credit analysis not necessary in a corporate credit analysis.

After lunch Sanders asks Tatiana Petrovich in the municipal bond department for her opinion on the most important factors in the risk assessment of tax-backed municipal debt. Petrovich identifies three factors:

1. Ameasure of debt burden, such as debt-per-capita in the tax jurisdiction.

2. An evaluation of tax collection rates and intergovernmental revenue ability.

3. Analysis of the municipality's budgetary policies as an indication of financial discipline.

Compare the 2008 free CFO-to-long-term obligations ratio benchmarks to Marietta's ratio. Marietta is between the:

Lena Pilchard, research associate for Eiffel Investments, is attempting to measure the value added to the Eiffel Investments portfolio from the use of 1-year earnings growth forecasts developed by professional analysts.

Pilchard's supervisor, Edna Wilms, recommends a portfolio allocation strategy that overweights neglected firms. Wilms cites studies of the "neglected firm effect," in which companies followed by a small number of professional analysts are associated with higher returns than firms followed by a larger number of analysts. Wilms considers a company covered by three or fewer analysts to be "neglected."

Pilchard also is aware of research indicating that, on average, stock returns for small firms have been higher than those earned by large firms. Pilchard develops a model to predict stock returns based on analyst coverage, firm size, and analyst growth forecasts. She runs the following cross-sectional regression using data for the 30 stocks included in the Eiffel Investments portfolio:

Ri = b0 + b,COVERAGEi + b2 LN(SIZEi) + b3(FORECASTi) + ei

where:

Ri = the rate of return on stock i

COVERAGEi = one if there are three or fewer analysts covering stock

i, and equals zero otherwise

LN(SIZEi) = the natural logarithm of the market capitalization

(stock price times shares outstanding) for stock i,

units in millions

FORECASTi = the 1-year consensus earnings growth rate forecast for stock i

Pilchard derives the following results from her cross-sectional regression:

The standard error of estimate in Pilchard's regression equals 1.96 and the regression sum of squares equals 400.

Wilrus provides Pilchard with the following values for analyst coverage, firm size, and earnings growth forecast for Eggmann Enterprises, a company that Eiffel Investments is evaluating.

Wilms asks Pilchard to derive the lowest possible value for the coefficient on the FORECAST variable using a 99% confidence interval. The appropriate lower bound for the FORECAST coefficient is closest to;