Deciding whether to use the direct or indirect strategy and thinking through the reasons for the bad news are examples of

In its 2016 annual report, caterpillar inc. reported the following (in millions): 2016 2015 sales $38,537 $47,011 cost of goods sold 28,309 33,546 as a percentage of sales, did caterpillar's gross profit increase or decrease during 2016? select one: a. gross profit increased from 26.8% to 28.6% b. gross profit decreased from 28.6% to 26.5% c. gross profit increased from 71.4% to 73.2% d. gross profit decreased from 73.2% to 71.4% e. there is not enough information to answer the question.

Uestion 7 you hold a portfolio consisting of a $5,000 investment in each of 20 different stocks. the portfolio beta is equal to 1.12. you have decided to sell a coal mining stock (b = 1.00) at $5,000 net and use the proceeds to buy a like amount of a mineral rights company stock (b = 2.00). what is the new beta of the portfolio?

Pennewell publishing inc. (pp) is a zero growth company. it currently has zero debt and its earnings before interest and taxes (ebit) are $80,000. pp's current cost of equity is 10%, and its tax rate is 40%. the firm has 10,000 shares of common stock outstanding selling at a price per share of $48.00. refer to the data for pennewell publishing inc. (pp). pp is considering changing its capital structure to one with 30% debt and 70% equity, based on market values. the debt would have an interest rate of 8%. the new funds would be used to repurchase stock. it is estimated that the increase in risk resulting from the added leverage would cause the required rate of return on equity to rise to 12%. if this plan were carried out, what would be pp's new value of operations? a. $484,359 b. $521,173 c. $584,653 d. $560,748 e. $487,805