Cash Flow Volatility and Capital Structure

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-90
Author(s):  
Nufazil Altaf ◽  
Farooq Ahmad Shah
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility

scholarly journals Three Essays on Capital Structure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mona Yaghoubi
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Cash Holdings ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Leverage Ratio ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility ◽  
Target Leverage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Debt Levels

<p>This thesis consists of three self-contained essays about the relationship between cash flow and investment volatility and firm capital structure and cash holdings. Capital structure measures sources of financing that allow a firm to operate, invest, and grow.  The first essay reviews the theoretical relationship between firm capital structure and cash flow volatility, develops testable hypotheses, constructs a data set, and then tests the hypotheses using several measures of firm cash flow volatility and econometric methods that account for the non-linear relationship of proportional variables. Overall, the evidence indicates that ceteris paribus, a one standard deviation increase from the mean of cash flow volatility, implies approximately by 24% decrease in the long-term debt ratio, a 26% decrease in probability of holding debt with over 10 years to maturity, and a 39% increase in the probability of not holding either short or long term debt. These findings are novel in the empirical capital structure literature and show the importance of cash flow volatility in firm financial policies.  The second essay studies the financing behaviour of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) from 1990 to 2013 and demonstrates variation in HCA’s market and book leverage ratios due to 1) mergers and acquisitions and divestitures that change the firm’s total assets, 2) share buybacks, and 3) leveraged buyouts and public offerings that change the firm’s ownership. The paper scrutinizes variation in HCA’s market and book leverage ratios independently as well as relative to each other. Our evidence shows that i) HCA’s management team used HCA’s excess cash from divestitures to repurchase HCA’s stock rather than pay off HCA’s debt, ii) HCA’s market leverage ratio tends to stay in a target leverage zone, and iii) in some years HCA’s management team used the book leverage ratio as a tool to keep the market leverage ratio inside a target leverage zone.  In the third essay, we investigate the influence of investment volatility on capital structure and cash holdings using a broad definition of investment. Despite theoretical motivation, the relationship between investment volatility and capital structure has not been studied in the empirical literature. All in all, our evidence suggests that i) firms with relatively high capital expenditure and acquisition investment volatility hold relatively higher levels of debt and lower levels of cash, ii) firms fund large capital expenditures and/or acquisition by increasing debt or decreasing cash, and iii) immediately after funding large investment firms reduce debt levels and increase cash holdings. Research and development investment volatility is related to lower debt levels and higher cash levels, and does not exhibit similar investment spike funding. Overall, our results are consistent with parts, but not all, of the DeAngelo, DeAngelo and Whited (2011) model.</p>

scholarly journals Three Essays on Capital Structure

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mona Yaghoubi
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Cash Holdings ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Leverage Ratio ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility ◽  
Target Leverage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Debt Levels

<p>This thesis consists of three self-contained essays about the relationship between cash flow and investment volatility and firm capital structure and cash holdings. Capital structure measures sources of financing that allow a firm to operate, invest, and grow.  The first essay reviews the theoretical relationship between firm capital structure and cash flow volatility, develops testable hypotheses, constructs a data set, and then tests the hypotheses using several measures of firm cash flow volatility and econometric methods that account for the non-linear relationship of proportional variables. Overall, the evidence indicates that ceteris paribus, a one standard deviation increase from the mean of cash flow volatility, implies approximately by 24% decrease in the long-term debt ratio, a 26% decrease in probability of holding debt with over 10 years to maturity, and a 39% increase in the probability of not holding either short or long term debt. These findings are novel in the empirical capital structure literature and show the importance of cash flow volatility in firm financial policies.  The second essay studies the financing behaviour of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) from 1990 to 2013 and demonstrates variation in HCA’s market and book leverage ratios due to 1) mergers and acquisitions and divestitures that change the firm’s total assets, 2) share buybacks, and 3) leveraged buyouts and public offerings that change the firm’s ownership. The paper scrutinizes variation in HCA’s market and book leverage ratios independently as well as relative to each other. Our evidence shows that i) HCA’s management team used HCA’s excess cash from divestitures to repurchase HCA’s stock rather than pay off HCA’s debt, ii) HCA’s market leverage ratio tends to stay in a target leverage zone, and iii) in some years HCA’s management team used the book leverage ratio as a tool to keep the market leverage ratio inside a target leverage zone.  In the third essay, we investigate the influence of investment volatility on capital structure and cash holdings using a broad definition of investment. Despite theoretical motivation, the relationship between investment volatility and capital structure has not been studied in the empirical literature. All in all, our evidence suggests that i) firms with relatively high capital expenditure and acquisition investment volatility hold relatively higher levels of debt and lower levels of cash, ii) firms fund large capital expenditures and/or acquisition by increasing debt or decreasing cash, and iii) immediately after funding large investment firms reduce debt levels and increase cash holdings. Research and development investment volatility is related to lower debt levels and higher cash levels, and does not exhibit similar investment spike funding. Overall, our results are consistent with parts, but not all, of the DeAngelo, DeAngelo and Whited (2011) model.</p>

scholarly journals Determinants of capital structure: evidence from Malaysian firms

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 283-326
Author(s):  
Abdulazeez Y.H. Saif-Alyousfi ◽  
Rohani Md-Rus ◽  
Kamarun Nisham Taufil-Mohd ◽  
Hasniza Mohd Taib ◽  
Hanita Kadir Shahar
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Estimation Techniques ◽  
Tax Shield ◽  
Growth Opportunity ◽  
Size Firm ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of capital structure using a dataset of firms in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThis paper carries out a panel data analysis of 8,270 observations from 827 listed non-financial firms on the Malaysia stock market over the period 2008–2017. To estimate the model and analyse the data collected from the DataStream and World Bank databases, the authors use static panel estimation techniques as well as two-step difference and system dynamic GMM estimator.FindingsThe results show that profitability, growth opportunity, tax-shield, liquidity and cash flow volatility have a negative and significant impact on debt measures. However, the effects of collateral, non-debt tax and earnings volatility on measures of debt are positive and significant. In addition, firm size, firm age, inflation rate and interest rate are important determinants of the present value of debt. The results also show a significant inverse U-shaped relationship between the firm's age and its capital structure. In general, the results support the proposition advocated by the pecking order and trade-off theories.Practical implicationsThe results of this study necessitate formulation of various policy measures that can counter the effects of debt on firms.Originality/valueThe present study is among the earliest to use both the book and market value measures of capital structure. It also uses three proxies for each: total debt, long-term debt and short-term debt. It incorporates earning volatility and cash flow volatility as new independent variables in the model. These variables have not previously been used together with both book and market value measures of capital structure. The study also examines the non-monotonic relationship between firm's age and capital structure using a quadratic regression method. It applies both static panel techniques and dynamic GMM estimation techniques to analyse the data.

Cash Flow Volatility and Corporate Bond Yield Spreads

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Vetzal ◽  
Alan V. S. Douglas ◽  
Alan Guoming Huang
Keyword(s):  
Cash Flow ◽  
Corporate Bond ◽  
Yield Spreads ◽  
Bond Yield ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility

Cash Flow Volatility, Income Smoothing and CEO Cash Compensation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Somnath Das ◽  
Keejae P. Hong ◽  
Kyonghee Kim
Keyword(s):  
Cash Flow ◽  
Income Smoothing ◽  
Cash Compensation ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility

Does Financial Reporting Conservatism Mitigate Underinvestment?

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun A. Hong ◽  
Yongtae Kim ◽  
Gerald J. Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Information Asymmetry ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Agency Conflicts ◽  
Negative Relation ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
External Capital ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility

This study examines the role of financial reporting conservatism in mitigating underinvestment problems. Recognizing that volatile cash flows increase the need to access external capital markets and that agency conflicts and information asymmetry make external capital costlier than internal capital, which leads managers to forgo valuable investment projects, Minton and Schrand document a negative relation between cash flow volatility and investment. We draw on Minton and Schrand’s framework to isolate underinvestment problems and hypothesize and document that conservatism mitigates the negative relation between cash flow volatility and investment and that this mitigative effect is more pronounced for firms with ex ante more severe agency conflicts. We also document that conservatism mitigates the sensitivity of investment to cash flow volatility by facilitating access to external capital.

scholarly journals Role of Hedging Mechanism in Maintaining Volatility Cash Flow and Growth Opportunity and Their Impact on Investor Reaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Hartono Hartono ◽  
Oktavianus Pasoloran ◽  
Fransiskus Eduardus Daromes
Keyword(s):  
Path Analysis ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Investor Confidence ◽  
Growth Opportunity ◽  
Forward Contract ◽  
Cash Flow Volatility ◽  
Investor Reaction

This study aims to investigate the role of forward contract hedging in maintaining volatility cash flow and growth opportunity and its impact on investor reaction. The population in this study included 242 non-financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2013–2017. The sample was determined using purposive sampling, and path analysis was employed to analyze the data. Results show that forward contract hedging mediates the effects of volatility cash flow and growth opportunity on investor reaction. This research is expected to provide insights so that company management can improve performance properly and increase investor confidence through the application of hedging, thereby maintaining volatility cash flow and growth opportunity. Keywords: Cash flow volatility, growth opportunity, hedging forward contract, investor reaction.

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