promised it does not mean that a stock buyback is out of the question or off the table.However each option requires an additional source of funds.According to the article “What Do We Know About Stock Repurchases,” financialeconomists state that corporate managers use repurchases to “signal” their optimismabout the firm’s prospects to the market. Overall the consensus seems to be that managersoften say that they are repurchasing stock in order to increase earnings per share.However the authors propose that this assumption is flawed and that shrinking the size ofa firm only adds value if the firm is failing to earn its cost of capital on it’s marginalinvestments. In light of this article it is unfortunate that the case does not address thediscount rate or cost of capital.The case explicitly states that Gainesboro prefers equity to debt financing so it isreasonable to assume that they initially would seek to issue more stock to finance thedividend versus borrowing. The company is also very committed and optimistic about itsnew Artificial Workforce and it is highly unlikely that fewer investments at this point willbe a chosen option. Based on the companies favored approach in the past, in theorythey’re likely to issue stock (this is based on past assumptions and does not analyze thesignaling consequences of such a decision).2. What happens to Gainesboro’s financing need and unused debtcapacity if:The numbers outlined below were derived by using the assumptions providedin the case and making some assumptions of my own. I estimated the cost ofdebt (after- tax) to be 6.5% (pre tax 10%) and selected a tax rate 35%consistent with cases we’ve done in the past. Also I weighted the P/E ratio toreflect what was stated in the case that 75% of earning would come from newprojects like the Artificial Workforce and 25% would come from thetraditional molds and presses products.a. no dividends are paid?If no dividends are paid there is no need for external funds. However this resultdoes not compensate for negative market response due to the inability to meet thepromise management made to shareholders in the letter the issued in 2004.Unused debt capacity would be 15.5 million (40% Debt maximum * thedifference between Equity and Debt). EPS is about $0.90 (based on 18.6 million