Aswath Damodaran 1

Valuation: Lecture Note Packet 1

Intrinsic Valuation
Aswath Damodaran
Updated: January 2017
 The essence of intrinsic value
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¨ In intrinsic valuation, you value an asset based upon its

fundamentals (or intrinsic characteristics).
¨ For cash flow generating assets, the intrinsic value will
be a function of the magnitude of the expected cash
flows on the asset over its lifetime and the uncertainty
about receiving those cash flows.
¨ Discounted cash flow valuation is a tool for estimating
intrinsic value, where the expected value of an asset is
written as the present value of the expected cash flows
on the asset, with either the cash flows or the discount
rate adjusted to reflect the risk.

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 The two faces of discounted cash flow valuation
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¨ The value of a risky asset can be estimated by discounting the

expected cash flows on the asset over its life at a risk-adjusted
discount rate:

where the asset has an n-year life, E(CFt) is the expected cash flow in period t
and r is a discount rate that reflects the risk of the cash flows.
¨ Alternatively, we can replace the expected cash flows with the
guaranteed cash flows we would have accepted as an alternative
(certainty equivalents) and discount these at the riskfree rate:

where CE(CFt) is the certainty equivalent of E(CFt) and rf is the riskfree rate.

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 Risk Adjusted Value: Two Basic Propositions
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¨ The value of an asset is the risk-adjusted present value of the cash flows:

1. The “IT” proposition: If IT does not affect the expected cash flows or the riskiness
of the cash flows, IT cannot affect value.
2. The “DUH” proposition: For an asset to have value, the expected cash flows have
to be positive some time over the life of the asset.
3. The “DON’T FREAK OUT” proposition: Assets that generate cash flows early in
their life will be worth more than assets that generate cash flows later; the latter
may however have greater growth and higher cash flows to compensate.

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 DCF Choices: Equity Valuation versus Firm
Valuation
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Firm Valuation: Value the entire business

Assets Liabilities
Existing Investments Fixed Claim on cash flows
Generate cashflows today Assets in Place Debt Little or No role in management
Includes long lived (fixed) and Fixed Maturity
short-lived(working Tax Deductible
capital) assets

Expected Value that will be Growth Assets Equity Residual Claim on cash flows
created by future investments Significant Role in management
Perpetual Lives

Equity valuation: Value just the

equity claim in the business

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 Equity Valuation
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Figure 5.5: Equity Valuation

Assets Liabilities

Assets in Place Debt

Cash flows considered are
cashflows from assets,
after debt payments and
after making reinvestments
needed for future growth Discount rate reflects only the
Growth Assets Equity cost of raising equity financing

Present value is value of just the equity claims on the firm

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 Firm Valuation
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Figure 5.6: Firm Valuation

Assets Liabilities

Assets in Place Debt

Cash flows considered are
cashflows from assets, Discount rate reflects the cost
prior to any debt payments of raising both debt and equity
but after firm has financing, in proportion to their
reinvested to create growth use
assets Growth Assets Equity

Present value is value of the entire firm, and reflects the value of
all claims on the firm.

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 Firm Value and Equity Value
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¨ To get from firm value to equity value, which of the following

would you need to do?
a. Subtract out the value of long term debt
b. Subtract out the value of all debt
c. Subtract the value of any debt that was included in the cost of
capital calculation
d. Subtract out the value of all liabilities in the firm
¨ Doing so, will give you a value for the equity which is
a. greater than the value you would have got in an equity valuation
b. lesser than the value you would have got in an equity valuation
c. equal to the value you would have got in an equity valuation

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 Cash Flows and Discount Rates
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¨ Assume that you are analyzing a company with the following

cashflows for the next five years.
Year CF to Equity Interest Expense (1-t) CF to Firm
1 $ 50 $ 40 $ 90
2 $ 60 $ 40 $ 100
3 $ 68 $ 40 $ 108
4 $ 76.2 $ 40 $ 116.2
5 $ 83.49 $ 40 $ 123.49
Terminal Value $ 1603.0 $ 2363.008
¨ Assume also that the cost of equity is 13.625% and the firm can
borrow long term at 10%. (The tax rate for the firm is 50%.)
¨ The current market value of equity is $1,073 and the value of debt
outstanding is $800.

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 Equity versus Firm Valuation
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¨ Method 1: Discount CF to Equity at Cost of Equity to get value

of equity
¤ Cost of Equity = 13.625%
¤ Value of Equity = 50/1.13625 + 60/1.136252 + 68/1.136253 +
76.2/1.136254 + (83.49+1603)/1.136255 = $1073
¨ Method 2: Discount CF to Firm at Cost of Capital to get value
of firm
¤ Cost of Debt = Pre-tax rate (1- tax rate) = 10% (1-.5) = 5%
Cost of Capital = 13.625% (1073/1873) + 5% (800/1873) = 9.94%
¤ PV of Firm = 90/1.0994 + 100/1.09942 + 108/1.09943 + 116.2/1.09944 +
(123.49+2363)/1.09945 = $1873
¤ Value of Equity = Value of Firm - Market Value of Debt
= $ 1873 - $ 800 = $1073

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 First Principle of Valuation
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¨ Discounting Consistency Principle: Never mix and

match cash flows and discount rates.
¨ Mismatching cash flows to discount rates is deadly.
¤ Discounting cashflows after debt cash flows (equity cash
flows) at the weighted average cost of capital will lead to
an upwardly biased estimate of the value of equity
¤ Discounting pre-debt cashflows (cash flows to the firm) at
the cost of equity will yield a downward biased estimate of
the value of the firm.

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 The Effects of Mismatching Cash Flows and
Discount Rates
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¨ Error 1: Discount CF to Equity at Cost of Capital to get equity

value
¤ PV of Equity = 50/1.0994 + 60/1.09942 + 68/1.09943 + 76.2/1.09944 +
(83.49+1603)/1.09945 = $1248
¤ Value of equity is overstated by $175.
¨ Error 2: Discount CF to Firm at Cost of Equity to get firm value
¤ PV of Firm = 90/1.13625 + 100/1.136252 + 108/1.136253 +
116.2/1.136254 + (123.49+2363)/1.136255 = $1613
¤ PV of Equity = $1612.86 - $800 = $813
¤ Value of Equity is understated by $ 260.
¨ Error 3: Discount CF to Firm at Cost of Equity, forget to
subtract out debt, and get too high a value for equity
¤ Value of Equity = $ 1613
¤ Value of Equity is overstated by $ 540

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DISCOUNTED CASH FLOW

VALUATION: THE INPUTS
The devil is in the details..
 Discounted Cash Flow Valuation: The Steps
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1. Estimate the discount rate or rates to use in the valuation

1. Discount rate can be either a cost of equity (if doing equity valuation) or a cost of
capital (if valuing the firm)
2. Discount rate can be in nominal terms or real terms, depending upon whether
the cash flows are nominal or real
3. Discount rate can vary across time.
2. Estimate the current earnings and cash flows on the asset, to either
equity investors (CF to Equity) or to all claimholders (CF to Firm)
3. Estimate the future earnings and cash flows on the firm being valued,
generally by estimating an expected growth rate in earnings.
4. Estimate when the firm will reach “stable growth” and what
characteristics (risk & cash flow) it will have when it does.
5. Choose the right DCF model for this asset and value it.

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 Generic DCF Valuation Model
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DISCOUNTED CASHFLOW VALUATION

Expected Growth
Cash flows Firm: Growth in
Firm: Pre-debt cash Operating Earnings
flow Equity: Growth in
Net Income/EPS Firm is in stable growth:
Equity: After debt
cash flows Grows at constant rate
forever

Terminal Value
CF1 CF2 CF3 CF4 CF5 CFn
Value .........
Firm: Value of Firm Forever
Equity: Value of Equity
Length of Period of High Growth

Discount Rate
Firm:Cost of Capital

Equity: Cost of Equity

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 Same ingredients, different approaches…
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Input Dividend Discount FCFE (Potential FCFF (firm)

Model dividend) discount valuation model
model
Cash flow Dividend Potential dividends FCFF = Cash flows
= FCFE = Cash flows before debt
after taxes, payments but after
reinvestment needs reinvestment needs
and debt cash and taxes.
flows
Expected growth In equity income In equity income In operating
and dividends and FCFE income and FCFF
Discount rate Cost of equity Cost of equity Cost of capital
Steady state When dividends When FCFE grow at When FCFF grow at
grow at constant constant rate constant rate
rate forever forever forever
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 Start easy: The Dividend Discount Model
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Expected Retention ratio

growth in net needed to
income sustain growth

Net Income Expected dividends = Expected net

* Payout ratio income * (1- Retention ratio)
= Dividends

Length of high growth period: PV of dividends during

high growth Stable Growth
Value of equity When net income and
dividends grow at constant
rate forever.
Cost of Equity
Rate of return
demanded by equity
investors

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 Moving on up: The “potential dividends” or FCFE
model
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Equity reinvestment
Expected growth in needed to sustain
net income growth
Free Cashflow to Equity
Non-cash Net Income
- (Cap Ex - Depreciation) Expected FCFE = Expected net income *
- Change in non-cash WC (1- Equity Reinvestment rate)
- (Debt repaid - Debt issued)
= Free Cashflow to equity

Length of high growth period: PV of FCFE during high

Value of Equity in non-cash Assets growth Stable Growth
+ Cash When net income and FCFE
= Value of equity grow at constant rate forever.

Cost of equity
Rate of return
demanded by equity
investors

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 To valuing the entire business: The FCFF model
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Reinvestment
Expected growth in needed to sustain
operating ncome growth

Free Cashflow to Firm

After-tax Operating Income
- (Cap Ex - Depreciation) Expected FCFF= Expected operating
- Change in non-cash WC income * (1- Reinvestment rate)
= Free Cashflow to firm

Value of Operatng Assets Length of high growth period: PV of FCFF during high
+ Cash & non-operating assets growth Stable Growth
- Debt When operating income and
= Value of equity FCFF grow at constant rate
forever.
Cost of capital
Weighted average of
costs of equity and
debt

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DISCOUNT RATES
The D in the DCF..
 Estimating Inputs: Discount Rates
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¨ While discount rates obviously matter in DCF valuation, they

don’t matter as much as most analysts think they do.
¨ At an intuitive level, the discount rate used should be
consistent with both the riskiness and the type of cashflow
being discounted.
¤ Equity versus Firm: If the cash flows being discounted are cash flows to
equity, the appropriate discount rate is a cost of equity. If the cash
flows are cash flows to the firm, the appropriate discount rate is the
cost of capital.
¤ Currency: The currency in which the cash flows are estimated should
also be the currency in which the discount rate is estimated.
¤ Nominal versus Real: If the cash flows being discounted are nominal
cash flows (i.e., reflect expected inflation), the discount rate should be
nominal

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 Risk in the DCF Model
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Relative risk of Equity Risk Premium

Risk Adjusted Risk free rate in the company/equity in X
Cost of equity
=
currency of analysis + questiion
required for average risk
equity

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 Not all risk is created equal…
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¨ Estimation versus Economic uncertainty

¤ Estimation uncertainty reflects the possibility that you could have the “wrong
model” or estimated inputs incorrectly within this model.
¤ Economic uncertainty comes the fact that markets and economies can change over
time and that even the best models will fail to capture these unexpected changes.
¨ Micro uncertainty versus Macro uncertainty
¤ Micro uncertainty refers to uncertainty about the potential market for a firm’s
products, the competition it will face and the quality of its management team.
¤ Macro uncertainty reflects the reality that your firm’s fortunes can be affected by
changes in the macro economic environment.
¨ Discrete versus continuous uncertainty
¤ Discrete risk: Risks that lie dormant for periods but show up at points in time.
(Examples: A drug working its way through the FDA pipeline may fail at some stage
of the approval process or a company in Venezuela may be nationalized)
¤ Continuous risk: Risks changes in interest rates or economic growth occur
continuously and affect value as they happen.

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 Risk and Cost of Equity: The role of the marginal
investor
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¨ Not all risk counts: While the notion that the cost of equity should
be higher for riskier investments and lower for safer investments is
intuitive, what risk should be built into the cost of equity is the
question.
¨ Risk through whose eyes? While risk is usually defined in terms of
the variance of actual returns around an expected return, risk and
return models in finance assume that the risk that should be
rewarded (and thus built into the discount rate) in valuation should
be the risk perceived by the marginal investor in the investment
¨ The diversification effect: Most risk and return models in finance
also assume that the marginal investor is well diversified, and that
the only risk that he or she perceives in an investment is risk that
cannot be diversified away (i.e, market or non-diversifiable risk). In
effect, it is primarily economic, macro, continuous risk that should
be incorporated into the cost of equity.

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 The Cost of Equity: Competing “ Market Risk” Models
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Model Expected Return Inputs Needed

CAPM E(R) = Rf + b (Rm- Rf) Riskfree Rate
Beta relative to market portfolio
Market Risk Premium
APM E(R) = Rf + Sbj (Rj- Rf) Riskfree Rate; # of Factors;
Betas relative to each factor
Factor risk premiums
Multi E(R) = Rf + Sbj (Rj- Rf) Riskfree Rate; Macro factors
factor Betas relative to macro factors
Macro economic risk premiums
Proxy E(R) = a + S bj Yj Proxies
Regression coefficients

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 Classic Risk & Return: Cost of Equity
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¨ In the CAPM, the cost of equity:

Cost of Equity = Riskfree Rate + Equity Beta * (Equity Risk
Premium)
¨ In APM or Multi-factor models, you still need a risk
free rate, as well as betas and risk premiums to go
with each factor.
¨ To use any risk and return model, you need
¨ A risk free rate as a base
¨ A single equity risk premium (in the CAPM) or factor risk
premiums, in the the multi-factor models
¨ A beta (in the CAPM) or betas (in multi-factor models)
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27 Discount Rates: I
The Risk Free Rate

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 The Risk Free Rate: Laying the Foundations
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¨ On a riskfree investment, the actual return is equal to the expected

return. Therefore, there is no variance around the expected return.
¨ For an investment to be riskfree, then, it has to have
¤ No default risk
¤ No reinvestment risk
¤ It follows then that if asked to estimate a risk free rate:
1. Time horizon matters: Thus, the riskfree rates in valuation will
depend upon when the cash flow is expected to occur and will
vary across time.
2. Currencies matter: A risk free rate is currency-specific and can be
very different for different currencies.
3. Not all government securities are riskfree: Some governments
face default risk and the rates on bonds issued by them will not
be riskfree.

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 Test 1: A riskfree rate in US dollars!
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¨ In valuation, we estimate cash flows forever (or at

least for very long time periods). The right risk free
rate to use in valuing a company in US dollars would
be
a. A three-month Treasury bill rate (0.5%)
b. A ten-year Treasury bond rate (2.5%)
c. A thirty-year Treasury bond rate (3.5%)
d. A TIPs (inflation-indexed treasury) rate (0.5%)
e. None of the above
What are we implicitly assuming about the US treasury when
we use any of the treasury numbers?

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 Test 2: A Riskfree Rate in Euros
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Euro Government Bond Rates - January 1, 2017

10.00%

9.00%

8.00%

7.00%

6.00%

5.00%

4.00%

3.00%

2.00%

1.00%

0.00%

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 Test 3: A Riskfree Rate in Indian Rupees
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¨ The Indian government had 10-year Rupee bonds

outstanding, with a yield to maturity of about 6.40% on
January 1, 2017.
¨ In January 2017, the Indian government had a local currency
sovereign rating of Baa3. The typical default spread (over a
default free rate) for Baa3 rated country bonds in early 2017
was 2.54%. The riskfree rate in Indian Rupees is
a. The yield to maturity on the 10-year bond (6.40%)
b. The yield to maturity on the 10-year bond + Default spread (8.94%)
c. The yield to maturity on the 10-year bond – Default spread (3.86%)
d. None of the above

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 Sovereign Default Spread: Three paths to
the same destination…
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¨ Sovereign dollar or euro denominated bonds: Find

sovereign bonds denominated in US dollars, issued by an
emerging sovereign.
¤ Default spread = Emerging Govt Bond Rate (in US $) – US
Treasury Bond rate with same maturity.
¨ CDS spreads: Obtain the traded value for a sovereign
Credit Default Swap (CDS) for the emerging government.
¤ Default spread = Sovereign CDS spread (with perhaps an
adjustment for CDS market frictions).
¨ Sovereign-rating based spread: For countries which don’t
issue dollar denominated bonds or have a CDS spread,
you have to use the average spread for other countries
with the same sovereign rating.

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 Local Currency Government Bond Rates – January
2017
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Currency Govt Bond Rate 12/31/16 Currency Govt Bond Rate 12/31/16
Australian $ 2.76% Malyasian Ringgit 4.24%
Brazilian Reai 11.37% Mexican Peso 7.63%
British Pound 1.35% Nigerian Naira 15.97%
Bulgarian Lev 2.04% Norwegian Krone 1.61%
Canadian $ 1.70% NZ $ 3.25%
Chilean Peso 4.12% Pakistani Rupee 8.03%
Chinese Yuan 3.25% Peruvian Sol 6.43%
Colombian Peso 6.76% Phillipine Peso 4.75%
Croatian Kuna 3.13% Polish Zloty 3.67%
Czech Koruna 0.49% Romanian Leu 3.44%
Danish Krone 0.42% Russian Ruble 8.38%
Euro 0.29% Singapore $ 2.45%
HK $ 1.69% South African Rand 8.80%
Hungarian Forint 3.41% Swedish Krona 0.62%
Iceland Krona 5.06% Swiss Franc -0.19%
Indian Rupee 6.40% Taiwanese $ 1.17%
Indonesian Rupiah 7.60% Thai Baht 2.70%
Israeli Shekel 2.06% Turkish Lira 11.00%
Japanese Yen 0.06% US $ 2.45%
Kenyan Shilling 14.02% Venezuelan Bolivar 20.43%
Korean Won 2.08% Vietnamese Dong 6.10%

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