BANK OF AMERICA Current Financial Leverage

BANK OF AMERICA's financial leverage is the degree to which the firm utilizes its fixed-income securities and uses equity to finance projects. Companies with high leverage are usually considered to be at financial risk. BANK OF AMERICA's financial risk is the risk to BANK OF AMERICA stockholders that is caused by an increase in debt. In other words, with a high degree of financial leverage come high-interest payments, which usually reduce Earnings Per Share (EPS).
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Given that BANK OF AMERICA's debt-to-equity ratio measures a company's obligations relative to the value of its net assets, it is usually used by traders to estimate the extent to which BANK OF AMERICA is acquiring new debt as a mechanism of leveraging its assets. A high debt-to-equity ratio is generally associated with increased risk, implying that it has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. Another way to look at debt-to-equity ratios is to compare the overall debt load of BANK OF AMERICA to its assets or equity, showing how much of the company assets belong to shareholders vs. creditors. If shareholders own more assets, BANK OF AMERICA is said to be less leveraged. If creditors hold a majority of BANK OF AMERICA's assets, the company is said to be highly leveraged.

BANK OF AMERICA Financial Leverage Rating

BANK OF AMERICA bond ratings play a critical role in determining how much BANK OF AMERICA have to pay to access credit markets, i.e., the amount of interest on their issued debt. The threshold between investment-grade and speculative-grade ratings has important market implications for BANK OF AMERICA's borrowing costs.

BANK OF AMERICA Debt to Cash Allocation

As BANK OF AMERICA follows its natural business cycle, the capital allocation decisions will not magically go away. BANK OF AMERICA's decision-makers have to determine if most of the cash flows will be poured back into or reinvested in the business, reserved for other projects beyond operational needs, or paid back to stakeholders and investors. Many companies eventually find out that there is only so much market out there to be conquered, and adding the next product or service is only half as profitable per unit as their current endeavors. Eventually, the company will reach a point where cash flows are strong, and extra cash is available but not fully utilized. In this case, the company may start buying back its stock from the public or issue more dividends.
The company has accumulated 502.81 B in total debt. Debt can assist BANK OF AMERICA until it has trouble settling it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. So, BANK OF AMERICA's shareholders could walk away with nothing if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt. However, a more frequent occurrence is when companies like BANK OF AMERICA sell additional shares at bargain prices, diluting existing shareholders. Debt, in this case, can be an excellent and much better tool for BAC-PD to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we think about BANK OF AMERICA's use of debt, we should always consider it together with cash and equity.

BANK OF AMERICA Assets Financed by Debt

Typically, companies with high debt-to-asset ratios are said to be highly leveraged. The higher the ratio, the greater risk will be associated with the BANK OF AMERICA's operation. In addition, a high debt-to-assets ratio may indicate a low borrowing capacity of BANK OF AMERICA, which in turn will lower the firm's financial flexibility. Like all other financial ratios, a a BANK OF AMERICA debt ratio should be compared their industry average or other competing firms.

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Our tools can tell you how much better you can do entering a position in BANK OF AMERICA without increasing your portfolio risk or giving up the expected return. As an individual investor, you need to find a reliable way to track all your investment portfolios. However, your requirements will often be based on how much of the process you decide to do yourself. In addition to allowing all investors analytical transparency into all their portfolios, our tools can evaluate risk-adjusted returns of your individual positions relative to your overall portfolio.

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Pair Trading with BANK OF AMERICA

One of the main advantages of trading using pair correlations is that every trade hedges away some risk. Because there are two separate transactions required, even if BANK OF AMERICA position performs unexpectedly, the other equity can make up some of the losses. Pair trading also minimizes risk from directional movements in the market. For example, if an entire industry or sector drops because of unexpected headlines, the short position in BANK OF AMERICA will appreciate offsetting losses from the drop in the long position's value.
The ability to find closely correlated positions to T Rowe could be a great tool in your tax-loss harvesting strategies, allowing investors a quick way to find a similar-enough asset to replace T Rowe when you sell it. If you don't do this, your portfolio allocation will be skewed against your target asset allocation. So, investors can't just sell and buy back T Rowe - that would be a violation of the tax code under the "wash sale" rule, and this is why you need to find a similar enough asset and use the proceeds from selling T Rowe Price to buy it.
The correlation of T Rowe is a statistical measure of how it moves in relation to other equities. This measure is expressed in what is known as the correlation coefficient, which ranges between -1 and +1. A perfect positive correlation (i.e., a correlation coefficient of +1) implies that as T Rowe moves, either up or down, the other security will move in the same direction. Alternatively, perfect negative correlation means that if T Rowe Price moves in either direction, the perfectly negatively correlated security will move in the opposite direction. If the correlation is 0, the equities are not correlated; they are entirely random. A correlation greater than 0.8 is generally described as strong, whereas a correlation less than 0.5 is generally considered weak.
Correlation analysis and pair trading evaluation for T Rowe can also be used as hedging techniques within a particular sector or industry or even over random equities to generate a better risk-adjusted return on your portfolios.
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Other Tools for BAC-PD Stock

When running BANK OF AMERICA price analysis, check to measure BANK OF AMERICA's market volatility, profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, growth potential, financial leverage, and other vital indicators. We have many different tools that can be utilized to determine how healthy BANK OF AMERICA is operating at the current time. Most of BANK OF AMERICA's value examination focuses on studying past and present price action to predict the probability of BANK OF AMERICA's future price movements. You can analyze the entity against its peers and financial market as a whole to determine factors that move BANK OF AMERICA's price. Additionally, you may evaluate how the addition of BANK OF AMERICA to your portfolios can decrease your overall portfolio volatility.
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What is Financial Leverage?

Financial leverage is the use of borrowed money (debt) to finance the purchase of assets with the expectation that the income or capital gain from the new asset will exceed the cost of borrowing. In most cases, the debt provider will limit how much risk it is ready to take and indicate a limit on the extent of the leverage it will allow. In the case of asset-backed lending, the financial provider uses the assets as collateral until the borrower repays the loan. In the case of a cash flow loan, the general creditworthiness of the company is used to back the loan. The concept of leverage is common in the business world. It is mostly used to boost the returns on equity capital of a company, especially when the business is unable to increase its operating efficiency and returns on total investment. Because earnings on borrowing are higher than the interest payable on debt, the company's total earnings will increase, ultimately boosting stockholders' profits.

Leverage and Capital Costs

The debt to equity ratio plays a role in the working average cost of capital (WACC). The overall interest on debt represents the break-even point that must be obtained to profitability in a given venture. Thus, WACC is essentially the average interest an organization owes on the capital it has borrowed for leverage. Let's say equity represents 60% of borrowed capital, and debt is 40%. This results in a financial leverage calculation of 40/60, or 0.6667. The organization owes 10% on all equity and 5% on all debt. That means that the weighted average cost of capital is (.4)(5) + (.6)(10) - or 8%. For every $10,000 borrowed, this organization will owe $800 in interest. Profit must be higher than 8% on the project to offset the cost of interest and justify this leverage.

Benefits of Financial Leverage

Leverage provides the following benefits for companies:
  • Leverage is an essential tool a company's management can use to make the best financing and investment decisions.
  • It provides a variety of financing sources by which the firm can achieve its target earnings.
  • Leverage is also an essential technique in investing as it helps companies set a threshold for the expansion of business operations. For example, it can be used to recommend restrictions on business expansion once the projected return on additional investment is lower than the cost of debt.
By borrowing funds, the firm incurs a debt that must be paid. But, this debt is paid in small installments over a relatively long period of time. This frees funds for more immediate use in the stock market. For example, suppose a company can afford a new factory but will be left with negligible free cash. In that case, it may be better to finance the factory and spend the cash on hand on inputs, labor, or even hold a significant portion as a reserve against unforeseen circumstances.

The Risk of Financial Leverage

The most obvious and apparent risk of leverage is that if price changes unexpectedly, the leveraged position can lead to severe losses. For example, imagine a hedge fund seeded by $50 worth of investor money. The hedge fund borrows another $50 and buys an asset worth $100, leading to a leverage ratio of 2:1. For the investor, this is neither good nor bad -- until the asset price changes. If the asset price goes up 10 percent, the investor earns $10 on $50 of capital, a net gain of 20 percent, and is very pleased with the increased gains from the leverage. However, if the asset price crashes unexpectedly, say by 30 percent, the investor loses $30 on $50 of capital, suffering a 60 percent loss. In other words, the effect of leverage is to increase the volatility of returns and increase the effects of a price change on the asset to the bottom line while increasing the chance for profit as well.