CAT 2005 — DILR Question 16
Answer the following question based on the information given below.
Venkat, a stockbroker, invested a part of his money in the stock of four companies - A, B, C and D. Each of these companies belonged to different industries, viz., Cement, Information Technology (IT), Auto, and Steel, in no particular order. At the time of investment, the price of each stock was Rs.100. Venkat purchased only one stock of each of these companies. He was expecting returns of 20%, 10%, 30%, and 40% from the stock of companies A, B, C and D, respectively. Returns are defined as the change in the value of the stock after one year, expressed as a percentage of the initial value. During the year, two of these companies announced extraordinarily good results. One of these two companies belonged to the Cement or the IT industry, while the other one belonged to either the Steel or the Auto industry. As a result, the returns on the stocks of these two companies were higher than the initially expected returns. For the company belonging to the Cement or the IT industry with extraordinarily good results, the returns were twice that of the initially expected returns. For the company belonging to the Steel or the Auto industry, the returns on announcement of extraordinarily good results were only one and a half times that of the initially expected returns. For the remaining two companies, which did not announce extraordinarily good results, the returns realized during the year were the same as initially expected.
If Venkat earned a 35% return on average during the year, then which of these statements would necessarily be true?
I . Company A belonged either to Auto or to Steel Industry.
II. Company B did not announce extraordinarily good results.
III. Company A announced extraordinarily good results.IV. Company D did not announce extraordinarily good results.
Answer & solution
- A
I and II only
II and III only
- C
I and IV only
- D
II and IV only
Venkat earned 35% average return i.e. Rs. 140.
∴ He earned Rs. 40 more than expected.
∴ 40 = x + 0.5y,
where x and y correspond to expected returns on stocks that gave extraordinarily good results.
∴ 0.5y = 40 − x
But x and y can be 20, 10, 30 or 40.
If x = 20, y = 40, which is possible
If x = 10, y = 60, which is not possible
If x = 30, y = 20, which is possible
If x = 40, y = 0, which is not possible
Thus, Company A with x = 20 necessarily announced extraordinarily good results along with company C or D. B did not announce extraordinarily good results.
Hence, option (b).