Stillwater Drinks Is Trying to Determine When to Harvest the Water

question 1

Multiple Choice

Stillwater Drinks is trying to determine when to harvest the water from the fountain of youth that it currently owns. If it harvests the water in year 1, the NPV of the project would increase over an immediate harvest by 18 percent. A year 2 harvest would create an NPV increase of 12 percent over that of year 1 and year 3 would create an NPV increase of 8 percent over that of year 2. If the cost of capital is 17 percent for Stillwater, then which harvest year would maximize the NPV for the firm? Assume that all NPVs are calculated from the perspective of today.

• A) Harvest immediately.
• B) Harvest in year 1.
• C) Harvest in year 2.
• D) Harvest in year 3.

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Definitions:

Excess Reserves

The capital reserves held by banks over and above the minimum required by regulators, available for lending or investing.

Required Reserves

The minimum amount of reserves that a bank must hold, as mandated by the central bank, against its deposit liabilities.

Reserve Requirement

The mandatory percentage of deposits that banks must hold in reserve, either in their vaults or at the central bank, not available for lending.

Government Bond

A debt security issued by a government to support government spending and obligations, typically offering a fixed rate of return.