Preferred Stock and Interest Rates
Chapters in this video
- 0:00 Preferred stock as an immortal bond with no maturity date
- 1:24 The inverse price-and-rate seesaw with fixed dividends
- 2:29 Current yield formula and why YTM does not exist
- 2:51 Discount, par, and premium math with a live example
- 4:17 Fixed-rate vs adjustable-rate vs callable preferred comparison
- 5:18 Callable preferred upside cap when rates fall
- 6:06 Rapid-fire exam recap
What this video covers
- Why preferred stock has no maturity date and therefore cannot pull to par, making its interest-rate risk potentially greater than a bond with the same coupon
- How preferred stock prices move inversely with interest rates, and why new issuance yields drive demand for existing shares
- Why current yield (annual dividend divided by market price) is the primary yield measure for preferred stock, and why yield to maturity (YTM) does not exist
- How buying preferred stock at a discount to par pushes current yield above the stated dividend rate, while buying at a premium pushes it below
- The characteristics and tradeoffs of fixed-rate preferred, adjustable-rate preferred, and callable preferred in different interest-rate environments
- Why adjustable-rate preferred offers price stability through dividend resets, while fixed-rate preferred absorbs full interest-rate risk
- Why callable preferred caps upside when rates fall, since the issuer will likely call and reissue at a lower dividend rate
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