BUYSIDERS
EST. 2025

What a company is worth, and how to show your work.

Enterprise and equity value, P/E, P/B and EV/EBITDA, comparable companies, discounted cash flow, cost of capital and the leveraged buyout model, each calculated step by step.

Multiples and relative valuationIntrinsic value and deal models

Multiples and relative valuation

16 min read

Enterprise value vs equity value

What enterprise value and equity value measure, the full bridge between them, fully diluted shares and which multiples pair with each.

14 min read

Price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio

How to calculate and read the P/E ratio: trailing, forward, normalized and CAPE, justified P/E from the Gordon growth model, and its distortions.

13 min read

Price-to-book (P/B) ratio

How to calculate P/B and tangible book, why it anchors bank and insurer valuation, justified P/B from ROE, and when the ratio breaks down.

14 min read

EV/EBITDA, EV/EBIT and EV/Sales

The three enterprise value multiples: formulas, when to use each, how D&A and leases change them, LTM versus NTM, and a worked valuation.

13 min read

PEG ratio, FCF yield and dividend yield

Growth-adjusted and cash-based valuation measures: PEG, levered and unlevered FCF yield, dividend yield, payout and total shareholder yield.

15 min read

Comparable company analysis (trading comps)

How to build a comps table: selecting peers, calendarizing and adjusting, summary statistics, and turning a multiple range into an implied share price.

Intrinsic value and deal models

15 min read

Precedent transactions and control premiums

How to build a precedent transaction set, derive deal multiples from offer terms, measure control premiums and adjust for cycles and synergies.

16 min read

Discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation

Build a DCF step by step: unlevered free cash flow, a five-year forecast, terminal value two ways, discounting conventions and a WACC sensitivity.

15 min read

Cost of capital: WACC and CAPM

How to estimate WACC: CAPM cost of equity, unlevering and relevering beta, cost of debt, market weights, and size and country risk adjustments.

18 min read

Building an LBO model

A complete leveraged buyout model for one company: sources and uses, projections, a debt schedule with a cash sweep, exit value, MOIC and IRR.

14 min read

LBO returns attribution

Decompose a buyout gain into EBITDA growth, multiple expansion and debt paydown, see why ordering matters, and read IRR against MOIC and hold.

14 min read

Merger accretion and dilution analysis

How to compute an acquirer's pro forma EPS for stock, cash and mixed deals, the P/E rule, breakeven synergies, and why accretion is not value.