Session 16: Fixed Income: Analysis and Valuation Reading 65: Introduction to the Valuation of Debt Securities
LOS a: Explain the steps in the bond valuation process.
Answering an essay question on a midterm examination, a finance student writes these two statements:
Statement 1: The value of a fixed income security is the sum of the present values of all its expected future coupon payments.
Statement 2: The steps in the bond valuation process are to estimate the bond’s cash flows, determine the appropriate discount rate, and calculate the present value of the expected cash flows.
With respect to the student's statements:
Statement 1 is incorrect. The value of a fixed income security is the sum of the present values of its expected future coupon payments and its future principal repayment. Statement 2 is correct. The three steps in the bond valuation process are to estimate the cash flows over the life of the security; determine the appropriate discount rate based on the risk of the cash flows; and calculate the present value of the cash flows using the appropriate discount rate. |