The Inimitable Tiff

Let’s look at Google’s earnings yield (which is the inverse of the P/E Ratio). Based on this year’s earnings estimate, Google’s earnings yield is 6.42%. Based on next year’s, it’s 7.48%. Even going by last year’s earnings, it’s still 5.60%.

In other words, Google’s yield on its equity is far higher than its yield on its debt. The lesson is to use debt. In fact, I think an interesting trade would be to play Google’s risk premium—go long Google’s stock and short the bonds. This is effectively what a company does when it issues bonds to buy back its stock (or in the 1980s when many companies LBO’d themselves).