Analysts use the process of valuation to ascertain the current or projected value of a stock, business, or an asset. In order to identify smart investments, valuation is the process of evaluating a security and comparing the estimated value to the current market price.
Valuation models only take into account a limited number of variables, even though it is claimed that the current market price reflects all variables, even irrational conduct. This explains the wide variety of methods for evaluation.
The three widely used valuation methods are:
- The Discounted Cash Flow Model
- The Capital Asset Pricing Model
- The Dividend Discount Model
We will be focusing on the discounted cash flow model in this article.
Let’s say you are thinking about investing in a business and want to know how much the company will actually make in the future to determine its true value. That’s what the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model helps you with. Here’s how it operates, broken into simple steps:
Forecast Cash Flows: To begin with, project how much cash the business will bring in annually from now on. This is the actual cash left over after all costs, investments, and adjustments to working capital are made. It is not just the revenue.
Discount the Cash Flows: Money today is worth more than the same amount of money in the future because you could invest it and earn interest. Therefore, we must determine the present value of future cash flows. We accomplish this by “discounting” them, which entails depreciating their worth annually.
Compute Present Value: The present value of the future cash flow for each year is computed using the discount rate. This requires some math, where you take each future cash flow and divide it by one plus the discount rate, raised to the power of the number of years the cash flow has yet to be generated.
Make Your Investment Decision: When making an investment decision, weigh this worth against the cost of purchasing the entire firm or a portion of it. A corporation may be a smart investment if its DCF value exceeds its price, as this indicates that the company is worth more than it costs.
Here is an example for better understanding. A company requires a $100,000 initial investment for a project that is expected to generate cash inflows for the next five years. It will generate $10,000 in the first two years, $20,000 in the third year, $20,000 in the fourth year and $60,000 in the fifth year. Assuming the cost of capital is 5%, and no further investment is required during the term, the DCF of the project can be calculated as below:
Without considering the time value of money, this project will create a total cash return of $110,000 after five years, higher than the initial investment, which seems to be profitable. However, after discounting the cash flow of each period, the present value of the return is only $99,585, lower than the initial investment of $100,000. It suggests the company should not invest in the project.
The DCF model is essentially a tool to assist you in estimating the value of an investment, such as purchasing stock in a company, based on projections of the amount of money it will produce in the future and the accuracy of those projections. It functions similarly to a financial crystal ball, enabling you to predict the future worth of money earned by a company today.
Even though DCF is dependent on estimates and has its own set of difficulties, especially in figuring out suitable discount rates and future cash flows, it is nevertheless a popular and useful technique for corporate finance planning and valuation.
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