Reference no: EM13271813

Cascade Water Company (CWC) currently has 30,000,000 shares of common stock out- standing that trade at a price of $42 per share. CWC also has 500,000 bonds outstanding that currently trade at $923.38 each. CWC has no preferred stock outstanding and has an equity beta of 2.639. The risk-free rate is 3.5%, and the market is expected to return 12.52%. The firm's bonds have a 20-year life, a $1,000 par value, a 10% coupon rate and pay interest semi-annually.

CWC is considering adding to its product mix a "healthy" bottled water geared toward children. The initial outlay for the project is expected to be $3,000,000, which will be depreciated using the straight-line method to a zero salvage value, and sales are expected to be 1,250,000 units per year at a price of $1.25 per unit. Variable costs are estimated to be $0.24 per unit, and fixed costs of the project are estimated at $200,000 per year. The project is expected to have a 3-year life and a terminal value (excluding the operating cash flows in year 3) of $500,000. CWC has a 34% marginal tax rate. For the purposes of this project, working capital effects will be ignored.

Question:

Should the firm undertake the healthy bottled water project?