West Corp. issued 20-year bonds two years ago at a coupon rate of 8.3 percent. The bonds make semiannual payments. If these bonds currently sell for 104 percent of par value, what is the YTM

Yield to Maturity (YTM) refers to internal rate of return that bond holder will earn if he purchased the bond today at the current market price and held it till maturity of the bond.

Yield to Maturity of the the bond = [Coupon payment+ (Future value of bond - Present value of bond / no. of Periods)] / [(Future value of bond + Present value of bond)/2] ---- (a)

Bond maturity period = 20 years

Coupon rate = 8.3 %

Par Value = 1000

No. of periods = 2 x 20 = 40 (semi- annual)

Coupon payment = 8.3 % x 1000 = 83 = 83/2 = 41.5 (Semi-annual)

Present value of bond = 104 percent of Par value = 104

Future value of bond = 1000

YTM = ?

Putting the values in equation (a),

Semi annual YTM = [41.5 + (1000-1040 / 40)] / [(1000 + 1040)/2]

Semi annual YTM = [41.5 + (-40/40) ] / [(1040)/2]

Semi annual YTM= [41.5 - 1] / 1020

Semi annualv YTM = 40.5 / 1020 = 0.0397

Hence, Annual yield to maturity = 0.0397 x 2 = 0.0794 or 7.94 %.