A company's weighted average cost of capital:.
a. is equivalent to the after tax cost of the outstanding liabilities.
b. is un-affected by changes in corporate tax rates.
c. remains constant when the debt-equity ratio changes.
d. is the return investors require on the total assets of the firm.
e. should be used as the required return when analyzing any new project.

The correct answer is D. Is the return investors require on the total assets of the firm.

Explanation:

The Weighted Average Capital Cost (WACC) is a financial measure, which has the purpose of encompassing in a single figure expressed in percentage terms, the cost of the different sources of financing that a company will use to fund a specific project.

To calculate the WACC, it is necessary to know the amounts, interest rates and tax effects of each of the selected sources of financing, so it is worth taking the time to analyze different combinations of these sources and take the one that provides the lower figure .

Comparatively, without going into the detail of the project evaluation, "the WACC must be less than the profitability of the project to be funded" or expressed in another order, "the project performance must be greater than the WACC."

in 2001, dell computer became the world’s largest personal computer vendor, continuing to

gain market share and post profits in an industry struggling with slumping sales and billions of

dollars in losses. dell sells 90% of its pcs directly to the final customer, largely bypassing the

reseller channel that accounts for most of the world’s pc sales. this direct customer relationship

is the key to dell’s business model, and provides distinct advantages over the indirect sales

model. dell’s direct relationship with the customer allows it to tailor its offerings to customer

needs, offer add-on products and services, and use the internet to offer a variety of customer

services. in addition, dell’s pcs are built to customers’ specifications upon receipt of an order,

giving dell additional advantages over indirect pc vendors who must try to forecast demand and

ship products based on those forecasts. dell’s direct sales and build-to-order model has achieved

superior performance in the pc industry in terms of inventory turnover, reduced overhead, cash

conversion, and return on investment (kraemer, et al., 2000).

explanation: