The Damon Company wishes to calculate next year’s ROE under different leverage ratios. Damon’s total assets are $14 million, and its marginal tax rate is 40 percent. The company can estimate next year’s earnings before interest and taxes for three possible states of the world: $4.2 million with a 0.2 probability, $2.8 million with a 0.5 probability and $700,000 with a 0.3 probability. Calculate Damon’s expected ROE, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation for each of the debt-to-total-assets ratios in the following list and evaluate the results. ROE = (Net income)/(Common equity).

Leverage (Debt/Assets) Interest Rate

0% .......... —

10 ........... 9%

50 ........... 11

60 ........... 14