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Longacres Finance's avatar

Here are the answers and the math behind them.

1. Yield

$3.78 / 134.98 = 0.0280041488 * 100 = 2.80%

Correct Answer was A

2. Losses and Gains

This one is easiest to breakdown as a number problem. Say you purchased $100 worth of stock XYZ. After a 40% decline your original $100 investment is worth $60. $100 * -40% = $60. To breakeven you will now need to gain $40. $40 / $60 = 66.67%

Correct Answer was D

3. Yield on Cost

There was a little spoiler in this question as the stated yield (2.80%) was the correct answer to question 1. There are several ways to calculate the answer. The simplest is to take 2.8% and multiply it by 1.15 five times. That will give you 5.63%. You could also use the following formula 2.8% * (1.15)^5 that also yields 5.63%.

Correct Answer was C

4. Dividend Growth

This is also easier solved when turned into a numbers problem. Since both stocks are priced the same at time today, lets just assign them a price of $100. This way we know Stock A pays a $6 dividend and Stock B pays a $2 dividend. You can then multiply Stock A's $6 dividend by 1.02 and Stock B's $2 dividend by 1.1 in a spreadsheet until Stock B's dividend exceeds Stock A's dividend. It takes 16 years for Stock B to pay $8.35 which is higher than Stock A's $8.08.

Correct Answer was C

5. Best Growth Rate

This question was really a guess or you could have looked up each company's 5-year dividend growth rate. Cintas has the best 5 year DGR of 18.78% according to Seeking Alpha.

Correct Answer was B

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simon riemersma's avatar

I've have A,C,A,B,D. Thanks this was fun!

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