Bonds, Bond Valuation and interest rate Flashcards

1
Q

What is a bond?

A

A bond is a long-term contract under which a borrower agrees to make payments of interest and principal, on specific dates, to the holders of the bond.

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2
Q

Key Features of a bond

A
  • Par value: Face value/amount; is the borrowed amount repaid at maturity.
  • Coupon interest rate: Stated interest rate. Generally,
    fixed for the whole life of the bond.
    →Floating-rate bonds: often tied to gov. bond rates, LIBOR, caps & floors
    → Zero coupon bonds: no coupon, but offered at a discount below par value
  • Maturity: Years until bond must be repaid. Declines.
  • Issue date: Date when bond was issued.
  • Default: Risk that issuer will not make interest or principal payments → credit (default) risk
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3
Q

Call Provision

A
  • Most corporate bonds contain a call provision, which gives the issuing corporation the right to call the bonds for redemption.
  • The call provision/premium generally states that the company must pay the bondholders an amount greater than the par value if they are called. (It is often set equal to 1 year’s interest if the bonds are called during the first year)
  • Most bonds have a deferred call (= not callable until several years) and a declining call premium
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4
Q

Redeem Bond

A
  • Bonds that are redeemable at par protect an investor against a rise in interest rates
  • If interest rates rise, the price of a fixed rate bond declines
  • If holders turn in the bonds, they can reinvest the proceeds at higher rates
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5
Q

What is a sinking fund?

A
  • Some bonds include a sinking fund provision to pay
    off a loan over its life rather than all at maturity.
  • Similar to amortization on a term loan.
  • Shortens average maturity.
  • Call x% at par per year for sinking fund purposes.
  • Buy bonds on open market.
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6
Q

Bond valuation

A

Slide 12-15

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7
Q

Bond Value ($) vs. Years remaining to maturity

A
  • New issue vs. outstanding bond / seasoned issue
  • Microdrive: The in the bond placement involved investment bankers defined the par value at 1,000$ with a maturity of 15 years and estimated the coupon rate at 9%.
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8
Q

changes in bond value of fixed-rate bonds over time

A

– At maturity, the value of any fixed-rate 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.
Slide 17-18

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9
Q

What’s “yield to maturity”?

A
  • 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.
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10
Q

Pricing of bonds

A
  • 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, the bond price falls.
  • If rd declines, the bond price increases.
  • Price = par at maturity.
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11
Q

Yield to maturity = expected total return

A

Formula : Slide 25

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12
Q

Callable Bonds and Yield to Call

A
  • If bond is callable bond and the firm called it, the investor would not have the option of holding the bond until it matured → YTM would not be earned!
  • Yield to call
  • If interest rates fall, likely that the firm would call
    → its debt can be financed by new bonds at lower rates
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13
Q

Assessing Risk Formula

A

Slide 36

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14
Q

What is the real risk-free rate?

A
  • Rate that a hypothetical riskless security pays each moment if zero inflation were expected.
  • r* changes over time depending on economic conditions.
  • r* can be approximated e.g. by rate on short-term Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).
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15
Q

What is the nominal risk-free rate?

A
  • The rate on a government bond – e.g. Bundesschatz, U.S. Treasury security
  • > Short-term security: T-bill
  • > Long-term security: T-bond
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16
Q

Estimating IP

A
  • Estimation based on government bonds: differential between unprotected and inflation- indexed securities – e.g. 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.
17
Q

Bond spreads:

A

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.

18
Q

Bond ratings

A

Slide 41-42

19
Q

What factors affect default risk and bond ratings?

A

Financial ratios

  • Debt ratio
  • Coverage ratios, such as interest coverage ratio or EBITDA coverage ratio
  • Profitability ratios
  • Current ratios
20
Q

Other factory that affect bond ratings

A

Provisions in the bond contract

  • Secured versus unsecured debt
  • Senior versus subordinated debt
  • Guarantee provisions
  • Sinking fund provisions
  • Debt maturity
21
Q

Other factors that affect bond ratings

A
  • Earnings stability
  • Regulatory environment
  • Potential product liability
  • Accounting policies
22
Q

What is reinvestment rate risk?

A

The risk that CFs will have to be reinvested in the future at lower rates, reducing income.

23
Q

The maturity risk premium

A
  • 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.
24
Q

Term Structure Yield Curve

A
  • 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.
25
Q

Credit default

A
  • Arrears - delay of payment
  • Bankruptcy
  • > Rescheduling of debt and reorganization
  • > Liquidation
  • Typically, company and creditors prefer different solutions.
26
Q

If the company is liquidated , what are the payment priority?

A
  • Past due property taxes
  • Secured creditors from sales of secured assets.
  • Trustee’s costs
  • Expenses incurred after bankruptcy filing
  • Wages and unpaid benefit contributions, subject to limits
  • Unsecured customer deposits, subject to limits
  • Taxes
  • Unfunded pension liabilities
  • Unsecured creditors
  • Preferred stock Common stock
27
Q

Bankruptcy

A
  • In a liquidation, unsecured creditors generally get zero. This makes them more willing to participate in reorganization even though their claims are greatly scaled back.
  • Various groups of creditors vote on the reorganization plan. If both the majority of the creditors and the judge approve, company “emerges” from bankruptcy with lower debts, reduced interest charges, and a chance for success.