Dover Wholesalers sells products exclusively to Benn Retailer. Benn Retailer buys
exclusively from Dover Wholesalers. Dover Wholesalers has a receivables period of 44
days, an inventory period of 8 days, and a payables period of 63 days. Benn Retailer has
an inventory period of 15 days, a receivables period of 22 days, and a payables period
of 44 days. Which one of the following statement is correct given this information?
A. Dover Wholesalers has a shorter operating cycle than does Benn Retailer.
B. Benn Retailer has an operating cycle of 81 days.
C. It takes Benn Retailer less time to collect payment on a sale than it does for the firm
to sell its inventory.
D. Dover Wholesalers is financing 100 percent of Benn Retailers operating cycle.
E. Dover Wholesalers has a cash cycle of 11 days. Benn Retailers operating cycle of 37
days (15 + 22) is less than its payables period of 44 days.
Ernst Electrical has 9,000 shares of stock outstanding and no debt. The new CFO is
considering issuing $80,000 of debt and using the proceeds to retire 1,500 shares of
stock. The coupon rate on the debt is 7.5 percent. What is the break-even level of
earnings before interest and taxes between these two capital structure options?
A. $18,500
B. $21,000
C. $24,000
D. $32,500
E. $36,000