Company Valuation

How Much Is
My Company Worth?

Great valuation work is not about forcing one perfect number. It is about triangulating a credible range from market comps, future cash flow, and transaction context.

Compare Methods Pick a Starting Point

Cash flow matters

Buyers ultimately pay for future earning power, not just headline revenue.

Context wins

Growth, leverage, customer concentration, and market mood all change the range.

Quick Calculator

Choose Valuation Method:

Annual revenue (USD)

Net profit margin (%)

Profit multiple

A multiple of estimated annual profit. Support it with comparable evidence in your report.

Valuation is part finance, part judgment. The tighter your assumptions, the more persuasive your range becomes.

The Playbook

Three valuation lenses

Each method answers a slightly different question. Read all three together: start with the market, underwrite the cash flow, then use supporting methods to tighten conviction.

Market signal

Comparative Analysis

Benchmark your business against public peers and transaction multiples to understand what similar companies command today.

Fastest external read

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Intrinsic value

DCF Analysis

Project the cash the business can generate, discount it back, and turn operating performance into a present-day valuation range.

Most assumption-driven

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Corroborating checks

Other Methods

Use precedents, SOTP, and asset-based approaches when the business model or capital structure needs a second lens.

Best for edge cases

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Best practice

Strong valuation work is a stack, not a toggle. Comparative analysis tells you how the market prices the category, DCF tells you what your assumptions imply, and supporting methods expose the situations where one headline multiple is not enough.

01 • Market-based read

Comparative analysis

Start with public peers and transaction multiples when you want the fastest outside-in view of what similar businesses command in the market today.

Best when peers are clear

Market-Based Method

Comparative Analysis

Comparative analysis asks a direct question: what are similar businesses trading for right now? It is fast, intuitive, and especially useful when your company fits neatly into a known public peer group.

The quality of the answer depends on discipline. Tight peer selection, clean financial normalization, and the right multiple matter far more than having a large comp list.

Best for

Mature businesses with obvious peer sets.

Watch out

Public-market swings can temporarily distort value.

Signature metric

EV / EBITDA, EV / Revenue, or P / E.

Example peer set

Simplified EV / EBITDA benchmark

Company	Ticker	EV / EBITDA
Netflix	NFLX	25.0x
Amazon	AMZN	22.0x
Disney	DIS	18.0x

Average multiple

21.7x

If your company generates $50 million of EBITDA, the implied enterprise value lands around $1.085 billion.

Identify comparable companies

Choose public companies with similar business models, size, growth profiles, and geographic exposure.

Gather clean operating data

Pull revenue, EBITDA, margins, leverage, and market value data so the comps are truly comparable.

Select the right multiple

Match the metric to the business. EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue, and P/E each tell a different story.

Normalize the peer set

Use medians or trimmed averages so one outlier does not distort your benchmark multiple.

Apply and adjust

Translate the peer multiple onto your company, then adjust for growth, risk, margins, and balance sheet differences.

Comparative analysis is strongest when the business is easy to compare.

The method weakens when your company has unusual margins, distinct product economics, or a capital structure that does not resemble the peer group. In those cases, use it as one anchor, not the final verdict.

02 • Intrinsic value lens

Discounted cash flow

Use DCF when you want value to flow from the business model itself. It is slower than comps, but it gives you a tighter link between operating assumptions and valuation.

Best when cash flow is forecastable

Cash-Flow Method

Discounted Cash Flow

DCF asks what the business is worth based on the cash it can produce for owners, not simply what the market is pricing today.

Step 1

Forecast free cash flow

Step 2

Discount using WACC

Step 3

Add terminal value

Enterprise Value = Σ(Discounted FCF) + Discounted Terminal Value

Present Value Thinking

Turn future performance into today's dollars

A DCF is more demanding than a comp table, but it tells you what the business is worth if your operating assumptions are right. That makes it invaluable when public peers are noisy or when the business has a differentiated model.

The model is only as strong as its assumptions. Revenue growth, margin expansion, reinvestment, discount rate, and terminal value can all move the answer materially.

Best for

Businesses with visible economics and forecastable cash generation.

Watch out

Tiny assumption changes can produce very different valuations.

Project free cash flow

Estimate revenue, operating margins, taxes, and reinvestment needs across a clear forecast period.

Set a discount rate

Use a WACC or required return that reflects the risk profile of the business and its capital structure.

Estimate terminal value

Capture the value beyond the forecast window with a perpetual growth rate or an exit multiple.

Discount everything back

Bring every future cash flow and the terminal value back to present value using the discount rate.

Convert to a valuation range

Stress-test assumptions and build a range instead of pretending a single output is precise.

Simplified example

5-year forecast at a 10% discount rate

Year	Projected FCF	Discount Factor	Present Value
1	$1,000,000	0.909	$909,000
2	$2,000,000	0.826	$1,652,000
3	$3,000,000	0.751	$2,253,000
4	$4,000,000	0.683	$2,732,000
5	$5,000,000 + Terminal Value	0.621	$49,680,000

Total present value

~$57,226,000

This is a deliberately simplified DCF. In practice, you would model revenue drivers, operating leverage, taxes, working capital, capex, and multiple sensitivity cases.

03 • Supporting lenses

Other methods

Bring in precedent deals, SOTP, or asset-based checks when the business is too unusual, too segmented, or too balance-sheet-heavy for one primary method to carry the whole argument.

Best when the story has exceptions

Precedent transactions

Look at what buyers actually paid in recent M&A deals to see how control premiums change the range.

Sum-of-the-parts

Value each business line separately when one multiple cannot capture the economics of the whole company.

Asset-based checks

Useful for capital-intensive, distressed, or balance-sheet-heavy businesses where tangible assets matter.

Analysts rarely stop at one method.

The best process is iterative: use one method to anchor the range, another to challenge it, and a third to explain the gap if the outputs disagree. That is how a valuation becomes persuasive instead of merely mechanical.

Decision Guide

Which method should you lead with?

Start with the valuation lens that matches the business model. Then use the others to confirm, refine, or challenge the result.

High-growth, low-profit businesses

When earnings are thin or volatile, start with revenue multiples and scenario-based DCFs instead of leaning on P/E.

Best mix: EV/Revenue + scenario DCF

Established cash-generators

For mature companies with stable margins, DCF and EV/EBITDA usually produce the cleanest read on value.

Best mix: DCF + EV/EBITDA

Multi-segment or asset-heavy firms

Conglomerates, holding companies, or capital-intensive operators often need segment-by-segment valuation and asset checks.

Best mix: SOTP + asset-based review

Go deeper

Use the companion guides to sharpen your math.

If you want to go deeper into takeover-style valuation, revisit enterprise value. If you want to anchor valuation around owner returns, intrinsic value and DCF are the next stop.

Enterprise Value Intrinsic Value

How Much Is My Company Worth?

Three valuation lenses

Comparative Analysis

DCF Analysis

Other Methods

Comparative analysis

Comparative Analysis

Simplified EV / EBITDA benchmark

Identify comparable companies

Gather clean operating data

Select the right multiple

Normalize the peer set

Apply and adjust

Comparative analysis is strongest when the business is easy to compare.

Discounted cash flow

Discounted Cash Flow

Turn future performance into today's dollars

Project free cash flow

Set a discount rate

Estimate terminal value

Discount everything back

Convert to a valuation range

5-year forecast at a 10% discount rate

Other methods

Precedent transactions

Sum-of-the-parts

Asset-based checks

Precedent Transactions

Sum-of-the-Parts (SOTP)

Asset-Based Valuation

Analysts rarely stop at one method.

Which method should you lead with?

High-growth, low-profit businesses

Established cash-generators

Multi-segment or asset-heavy firms

Use the companion guides to sharpen your math.

How Much Is
My Company Worth?