The Barnyard Basics Of

Derivatives
By Andrew Beattie
When people think of stocks, bonds or Treasury bills, they can usually come
up with a clear picture in their minds, and probably some examples as well.
When the word is "derivatives," most people are lucky if they can conjure up
anything but an indistinct fog.
Derivatives are generally placed in the realm of advanced or technical
investing, but there is no reason why they should remain a mystery to
common investors. This article will use a simple story of a fictional farm to
explore the mechanics of derivatives.
The Definition
Derivatives are financial products with value that stems from an underlying
asset or set of assets. These can be stocks, debt issues or almost anything. A
derivative's value is based on an asset, but ownership of a derivative doesn't
mean ownership of the asset. We will look at some examples.
The Future of Healthy Hen Farms
Gail, the owner of Healthy Hen Farms, is worried about the volatility of the
chicken market, with all the sporadic reports of bird flu coming out of the
east. Gail wants a way to protect her business against another spell of bad
news. Gail meets with an investor who enters into a futures contract with
her.
The investor agrees to pay $30 per bird when the birds are ready for
slaughter in six months' time, regardless of the market price. If, at that time,
the price is above $30, the investor will get the benefit as he or she will be
able to buy the birds for less than market cost and sell them on the market
at a higher price for a gain.
If the price goes below $30, then Gail will get the benefit because she will be
able to sell her birds for more than the current market price, or more than
what she would get for the birds in the open market.
By entering into a futures contract, Gail is protected from price changes in
the market, as she has locked in a price of $30 per bird. She may lose out if
the price flies up to $50 per bird on a mad cow scare, but she will be
protected if the price falls to $10 on news of a bird flu outbreak.
By hedging with a futures contract, Gail is able to focus on her business and

limit her worry about price fluctuations.

Swapping
Gail has decided that it's time to take Healthy Hen Farms to the next level.
She has already acquired all the smaller farms near her and is looking at
opening her own processing plant. She tries to get more financing, but the
lender, Lenny, rejects her.
The reason is that Gail financed her takeovers of the other farms through a
massive variable-rate loan, and the lender is worried that, if interest rates
rise, Gail won't be able to pay her debts. He tells Gail that he will only lend to
her if she can convert the loan to a fixed-rate. Unfortunately, her other
lenders refuse to change her current loan terms because they are hoping
interest rates will increase too.
Gail gets a lucky break when she meets Sam, the owner of a chain of
restaurants. Sam has a fixed-rate loan about the same size as Gail's and he
wants to convert it to a variable-rate loan because he hopes interest rates
will decline in the future.
For similar reasons, Sam's lenders won't change the terms of the loan. Gail
and Sam decide to swap loans. They work out a deal in which Gail's
payments go toward Sam's loan and his payments go toward Gail's loan.
Although the names on the loans haven't changed, their contract allows
them both to get the type of loan they want.
This is a bit risky for both of them because if one of them defaults or goes
bankrupt, the other will be snapped back into his or her old loan, which may
require a payment for which either Gail of Sam may be unprepared.
However, it allows them to modify their loans to meet their individual needs.
Buying Debt
Lenny, Gail's financier, ponies up the additional capital at a favorable interest
rate and Gail goes away happy. Lenny is pleased as well, because his money
is out there getting a return, but he is also a little worried that Sam or Gail
may fail in their business.
To make matters worse, Lenny's friend Dale comes to him asking for money
to start his own film company. Lenny knows Dale has a lot of collateral and
that the loan would be at a higher interest rate because of the more volatile
nature of the movie industry, so he's kicking himself for loaning all of his
capital to Gail.
Fortunately, for Lenny, derivatives offer another solution. Lenny spins Gail's
loan into a credit derivative and sells it to a speculator at a discount to the
true value. Although Lenny doesn't see the full return on the loan, he gets his

capital back and can issue it out again to his friend Dale.
Lenny likes this system so much that he continues to spin out his loans as
credit derivatives, taking modest returns in exchange for less risk of default
and more liquidity.
Options
Years later, Healthy Hen Farms is a publicly traded corporation (the ticker
symbol is (obviously) HEN) and is America's largest poultry producer. Gail
and Sam are both looking forward to retirement.
Over the years, Sam bought quite a few shares of HEN. In fact, he has more
than $100,000 invested in the company. Sam is getting nervous because he
is worried that another shock, perhaps another case of bird flu, might wipe
out a huge chunk of his retirement money. Sam starts looking for someone to
take the risk off his shoulders. Lenny, financier extraordinaire and an active
writer of options, agrees to give him a hand.
Lenny outlines a deal in which Sam pays Lenny a fee to for the right (but not
the obligation) to sell Lenny the HEN shares in a year's time at their current
price of $25 per share. If the share prices plummet, Lenny protects Sam from
the loss of his retirement savings.
Lenny is OK because he has been collecting the fees and can handle the risk.
This is called a put option, but it can be done in reverse by someone
agreeing to buy a stock in the future at a fixed price (called a call option).
The Bottom Line
Healthy Hen Farms remains stable until Sam and Gail have both pulled their
money out for retirement. Lenny profits from the fees and his booming trade
as a financier.
In this ideal tale, you can see how derivatives can move risk (and the
accompanying rewards) from the risk averse to the risk seekers. Although
Warren Buffett once called derivatives, "financial weapons of mass
destruction," derivatives can be very useful tools, provided they are used
properly. Like all other financial instruments, derivatives have their own set
of pros and cons, but they also hold unique potential to enhance the
functionality of the the overall financial system.