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edX for Business

Risk & Return

Learn how to measure the risk and return of equity and debt; and compute the weighted average of cost of capital.

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Starts Sep 17
Ends Dec 31
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Starts Jan 1, 2022
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Estimated 4 weeks
3–4 hours per week
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Risk & Return

About this course

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In this course, you will learn to estimate the expected return of equity and debt. You will also learn to estimate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), the opportunity cost of capital you should use when discounting the free cash flows to value a firm.

In the process, you will learn to estimate the risk of financial assets and how use this measure of risk to calculate expected returns. You will also learn how the capital structure of a firm affects the riskiness of its equity and debt. Throughout the course, you will learn how to construct Excel models to value firms using hands on activities.

At a glance

  • Institution: ColumbiaX
  • Subject: Business & Management
  • Level: Introductory
  • Prerequisites:

    Students must be familiar with basic concepts of Accounting; basic skills in Microsoft Excel (or equivalent); Students should have completed Introduction to Corporate Finance and The Free Cash Flow Method for Firm Valuation.

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated programs:

What you'll learn

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  • How to measure risk
  • Estimate the expected return of an asset based on its risk
  • Adjust the risk of the equity and debt of a firm when the firm changes its capital structure
  • Calculate the weighted average cost of capital (essential input to value of firm)

Syllabus

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Week 1: Risk, return, and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

Week 2: The Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) and the effect of capital structure on WACC

Week 3: Case study: Estimating the WACC

Week 4: Valuation capstone case

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$225 USD

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Expires on Oct 15

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