3 - Pecking order and Stulz 1990 Flashcards
What does the PECKING ORDER outline?
there is a ranking in choice of finance that firms choose
What assumptions does PECKING ORDER make? 3
- asymmetric information
- dividends are sticky
- managers act in EXISTING shareholders interests
What is the ranking of financing choice according to PECKING ORDER? how is this order determined?
- internal finance
- new debt (easier to value)
- new equity
safest security first
how is level of safety of security determined in the PECKING ORDER? 2
- adverse selection costs
- sensitivity of security to new info
when will an entity issue new equity according to PECKING ORDER? 2
when they believe equity is over valued
or
they do not have enough internal cap and can not issue anymore debt
market values the share price lower than the intrinsic value, what causes this according to PECKING ORDER?
adverse selection costs
Why is debt preferred to equity as per PECKING ORDER? signals
- issuing debt signals management is optimistic about company and equity is under valued
- issuing equity signals management is pessimistic about company and equity is over valued: will drive stock prices down
why might a firm forego a positive NPV project when it is in a strong position but would have to issue equity to fund project?
because market would under value their equity issue, usually by 3%
Why does PECKING ORDER exist?
because of adverse selection costs
how do firms manage internal funds (if more or less than needed for investment opps) in regards to PECKING ORDER?
- more: pay off debt/invest
- less: draw on marketable securities
PECKING ORDER implies there are two types of equity and two types of debt financing, what are they?
- internal financing (financial slack), external financing (common equity)
- two kinds of debt, risk free and risky debt
Why is debt preferred to new equity?
information asymmetry
-issue of stock is a negative sign
why do profitable firms sell less debt?
because they can afford internal financing
what theory does the PECKING ORDER contradict? how so?
Static Trade-off Theory
firms will not have higher debt purely to gain tax shield benefit
what are key weaknesses of the PECKING ORDER theory?
doesn’t explain the differences in debt/equity ratios across industries, i.e.
- tech/high growth industries that have high need for external finance have low debt ratios
- mature industries don’t use cash flows to reduce debt and have high dividend payouts
what is a good and a bad aspect of financial slack?
- good: cash to invest in projects
- bad: becomes free cash flow to firm (left over cash), allow managers to become lazy