Deciding what something is worth, as distinct from what it costs.
10 topics · 9 curated works
No prior grounding assumed.
What Does a P/E Multiple Mean?
Michael J. Mauboussin & Dan Callahan · 2014
Breaks the price-earnings multiple down into its return-on-investment and growth components to argue that comparing multiples across companies…
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
A Tutorial on the McKinsey Model for Valuation of Companies
L. Peter Jennergren · 1998
Works through the discounted cash flow valuation model popularised by Copeland, Koller and Murrin step by step, including how the continuing…
+4 more at this level
Primary sources and full treatments.
Earnings, Book Values, and Dividends in Equity Valuation
James A. Ohlson · 1995
Formalises intrinsic value as book value plus the present value of expected abnormal earnings, giving the dividend-discount notion of value a…
+2 more at this level
9 works
Michael J. Mauboussin & Dan Callahan
Breaks the price-earnings multiple down into its return-on-investment and growth components to argue that comparing multiples across companies without adjusting for those drivers is close to meaningless.
L. Peter Jennergren
Works through the discounted cash flow valuation model popularised by Copeland, Koller and Murrin step by step, including how the continuing (terminal) value term is derived and where it can be misapplied.
Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French
Reviews the empirical record and concludes the CAPM's poor showing in tests means the cost of equity it produces should be treated with real scepticism rather than mechanical confidence.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Aswath Damodaran
Surveys discounted cash flow, relative and contingent-claim valuation in one framework and argues the choice of model matters far less than the quality and consistency of the assumptions fed into it.
Aswath Damodaran
Argues the illiquidity discount applied to private and closely-held firms should be estimated from what determines marketability firm by firm, rather than taken as a flat rule-of-thumb percentage.
Aswath Damodaran
Argues standard discounted cash flow valuation still applies to young, high-growth companies once analysts adapt revenue growth, margin and survival assumptions, rather than abandoning fundamentals for story-based pricing.
James A. Ohlson
Formalises intrinsic value as book value plus the present value of expected abnormal earnings, giving the dividend-discount notion of value a rigorous accounting-based foundation.
Philip G. Berger & Eli Ofek
Values diversified firms' segments as if they were stand-alone businesses and finds the sum consistently exceeds the firm's actual market value, documenting a persistent conglomerate discount.
Jing Liu, Doron Nissim & Jacob Thomas
Tests valuation multiples empirically across industries and finds forward-earnings multiples produce the smallest pricing errors, with cash-flow and book-value multiples adding little once forward earnings are used.