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Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Model



Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model involves projecting future cash flows and discounting them back to the present using a discount rate that reflects the riskiness of the capital, you then add up all of those discounted cash flows, and the sum is the intrinsic value of the company.


2 Types of cash flows (CF):

  1. Unlevered free cash flow (FCF): before the payment of debts

  2. Levered free cash flow (FCF): after pay down of interest expenses and debt


FCF = Operating profit - Reinvestment (or capital expenditure, CapEx)



Stage 1 of Free Cash Flow Analysis



Period: projected years that company will have stable earnings, usually 5-10 years.


Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIAT) = EBIT x (1 - tax rate)

  • also called Net operating profit after tax (NOPAT)


Unlevered FCF = EBIAT + D&A + WC adjustments + CapEx

  • adding back non-cash expenses, subtracting non-cash gains, making accrual adjustments, subtracting CapEx

  • When you build a CF statement:

    • an increase in asset = use of cash (-), think of cash/accrual method

    • AR = Previous year - Forecast year 1

    • an increase in liabilities or equity = source of cash (+)

    • AP = Forecast year 1 - Previous year


PV of FCF = Unlevered FCF / (1 + WACC)^period


WACC = see below



Step 2: Terminal Value



Terminal value represents all value beyond the explicit forecast period (i.e. from year 6 onward).


2 methods to calculate terminal value are:

  1. Growth in perpetuity

  2. Exit EBITDA multiple


Terminal value is the value assumed to exist on year 5, hence:


FCF (t+1) = Unlevered FCF on t=5 x (1+ growth rate)


Terminal value = FCF / (WACC - growth rate)


PV of Terminal value = Terminal value / (1 + WACC on t=5)^(t=5)


WACC = see below



Step 3: Weighted average cost of capital (WACC)




Diluted share count: dilution counts for all the different ownership claims, so those claims arising from options, warrants, convertible debt or convertible preferred.


After-tax Cost of debt = Cost of debt x (1 - tax rate)

  • Interest tax shields: Interest expense is tax deductible for companies and it can reduce taxable income, hence tax rate needs to be recalculated.


Cost of debt - 2 calculation methods:

  • Company debt: Yield to worst

  • Comparable company debt: Yield to maturity


Cost of equity - 2 calculation models:

  1. Dividend discount model

  2. Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) = risk free rate (rf) + beta x market risk premium

  • highly debatable when choosing which model to calculate with because cost of debt is fixed whereas cost of equity is uncertain - it is a combination of potential dividend payments and price appreciation.



  • Debt holders request 3.1% after tax.

  • Equity holders demand 15% required rate of return.


Important things to note:

  1. Target capital structure = existing capital structure for mature company

  2. Use market values for debt and equity: for debt use latest year (ex. t=2012) balance sheet numbers available before that valuation date, as book value is an acceptable proxy.


Equity = share price x diluted share count


Debt weighting = debt / total capital


Equity weighting = equity / total capital


Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) = (equity weighting x cost of equity) + (debt weighting x after-tax cost of debt)

  • blended rate of return for all the capital providers of a company (can include preferred stock if you want to be more accurate).



Step 4: Enterprise value to Equity value



Enterprise value = Sum of Stage 1 + Sum of Stage 2


Net debt = Debt - Cash and cash equivalents (assumption: if you have excess liquidity you can pay off some of that debt)


Equity value = Enterprise value - Net debt


Equity value per share = Equity value / Diluted shares outstanding


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