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    BREAKING DOWN 'Cost of Debt'

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    Zohair
    Cost of debt refers to the effective interest rate a company pays on its outstanding debt obligations. It can refer to either the pre-tax or after-tax cost of debt, with the difference being the tax deductibility of interest expenses. To calculate cost of debt, a company divides its total annual interest expenses by its total debt. Knowing a company's cost of debt relative to its peers can provide insight into its risk level. Calculating after-tax cost of debt involves subtracting the effective tax rate from 100% and multiplying the result by the pre-tax cost of debt to account for tax savings from interest deductions.

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    BREAKING DOWN 'Cost of Debt'

    Uploaded by

    Zohair
    52 views1 page
    Cost of debt refers to the effective interest rate a company pays on its outstanding debt obligations. It can refer to either the pre-tax or after-tax cost of debt, with the difference being the tax deductibility of interest expenses. To calculate cost of debt, a company divides its total annual interest expenses by its total debt. Knowing a company's cost of debt relative to its peers can provide insight into its risk level. Calculating after-tax cost of debt involves subtracting the effective tax rate from 100% and multiplying the result by the pre-tax cost of debt to account for tax savings from interest deductions.

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    Explains what is the meaning of Cost of Debt

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    Cost of Debt

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    Cost of debt refers to the effective interest rate a company pays on its outstanding debt obligations. It can refer to either the pre-tax or after-tax cost of debt, with the difference being the tax deductibility of interest expenses. To calculate cost of debt, a company divides its total annual interest expenses by its total debt. Knowing a company's cost of debt relative to its peers can provide insight into its risk level. Calculating after-tax cost of debt involves subtracting the effective tax rate from 100% and multiplying the result by the pre-tax cost of debt to account for tax savings from interest deductions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    52 views1 page

    BREAKING DOWN 'Cost of Debt'

    Uploaded by

    Zohair
    Cost of debt refers to the effective interest rate a company pays on its outstanding debt obligations. It can refer to either the pre-tax or after-tax cost of debt, with the difference being the tax deductibility of interest expenses. To calculate cost of debt, a company divides its total annual interest expenses by its total debt. Knowing a company's cost of debt relative to its peers can provide insight into its risk level. Calculating after-tax cost of debt involves subtracting the effective tax rate from 100% and multiplying the result by the pre-tax cost of debt to account for tax savings from interest deductions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    Cost of Debt

    Cost of debt refers to the effective rate a company pays on its current debt. In most cases, this
    phrase refers to after-tax cost of debt, but it also refers to a company's cost of debt before taking
    taxes into account. The difference in cost of debt before and after taxes lies in the fact that
    interest expenses are deductible.

    BREAKING DOWN 'Cost of Debt'

    Cost of debt is one part of a company's capital structure, which also includes the cost of equity.
    A company may use various bonds, loans and other forms of debt, so this measure is useful for
    giving an idea as to the overall rate being paid by the company to use debt financing. The
    measure can also give investors an idea of the riskiness of the company compared to others,
    because riskier companies generally have a higher cost of debt.

    How to Calculate the Cost of Debt

    To calculate its cost of debt, a company needs to figure out the total amount of interest it is
    paying on each of its debts for the year. Then, it divides this number by the total of all of its debt.
    The quotient is its cost of debt.

    For example, say a company has a $1 million loan with a 5% interest rate and a $200,000 loan
    with a 6% rate. It has also issued bonds worth $2 million at a 7% rate. The interest on the first
    two loans is $50,000 and $12,000, respectively, and the interest on the bonds equates to
    $140,000. The total interest for the year is $202,000. As the total debt is $3.2 million, the
    company's cost of debt is 6.31%.

    How to Calculate the Cost of Debt After Taxes

    To calculate after-tax cost of debt, subtract a company's effective tax rate from 1, and multiply
    the difference by its cost of debt. Do not use the company's marginal tax rate; rather, add
    together the company's state and federal tax rate to ascertain its effective tax rate.

    For example, if a company's only debt is a bond it has issued with a 5% rate, its pre-tax cost of
    debt is 5%. If its tax rate is 40%, the difference between 100% and 40% is 60%, and 60% of 5%
    is 3%. The after-tax cost of debt is 3%.

    The rationale behind this calculation is based on the tax savings the company receives from
    claiming its interest as a business expense. To continue with the above example, imagine the
    company has issued $100,000 in bonds at a 5% rate. Its annual interest payments are $5,000. It
    claims this amount as an expense, and this lowers the company's income on paper by $5,000. As
    the company pays a 40% tax rate, it saves $2,000 in taxes by writing off its interest. As a result,
    the company only pays $3,000 on its debt. This equates to a 3% interest rate on its debt.

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