15. With differential dividends, we find the price of the stock when the dividends level off at a constant
growth rate, and then find the PV of the future stock price, plus the PV of all dividends during the
differential growth period. The stock begins constant growth in Year 4, so we can find the price of
the stock in Year 3, one year before the constant dividend growth begins as:
The price of the stock today is the PV of the first three dividends, plus the PV of the Year 3 stock
price. The price of the stock today will be:
16. Here we need to find the dividend next year for a stock experiencing differential growth. We know
the stock price, the dividend growth rates, and the required return, but not the dividend. First, we
need to realize that the dividend in Year 3 is the current dividend times the FVIF. The dividend in
Year 3 will be:
And the dividend in Year 4 will be the dividend in Year 3 times one plus the growth rate, or:
The stock begins constant growth after the 4th dividend is paid, so we can find the price of the stock
in Year 4 as the dividend in Year 5, divided by the required return minus the growth rate. The
equation for the price of the stock in Year 4 is:
Now we can substitute the previous dividend in Year 4 into this equation as follows:
When we solve this equation, we find that the stock price in Year 4 is 93.33 times as large as the
dividend today. Now we need to find the equation for the stock price today. The stock price today is
the PV of the dividends in Years 1, 2, 3, and 4, plus the PV of the Year 4 price. So:
Reducing the equation even further by solving all of the terms in the braces, we get: