The Little Book of Valuation

You buy financial assets for the cash flows you expect to gain. The price of a stock cannot be justified by assuming there will be other investors around who will pay a higher price in the future. That is the equivalent of playing an expensive game of musical chairs. As a prudent investor, you need to value the investment you are considering before buying it. Valuation is at the heart of any investment decision, whether that decision is to buy, sell, or hold. In The Little Book of Valuation, financial expert Aswath Damodaran explains valuation techniques in everyday language so that even those new to investing can understand. Using this important resource, you can make better investment decisions when reviewing stock research reports and engaging in independent efforts to value and select stocks for your portfolio. Page by page, Damodaran distills the fundamentals of valuation, without glossing over or ignoring key concepts, and develops models that you can easily understand and implement. He also makes the case that the two popular, and often divergent, approaches (intrinsic and relative) to valuation can be used in tandem. Damodaran discusses how both of these approaches can significantly improve your odds by helping you select stocks that are undervalued not only on an intrinsic level but also on a relative basis. Once you become familiar with the techniques outlined in this book, you will be able to value a company with confidence. In addition, The Little Book of Valuation: Includes illustrative case studies and examples that will help develop your valuation skills Puts you in a better position to determine which investments are on track to add real value to your portfolio Offers valuable valuation insights from one of the foremost experts in this field Written with the individual investor in mind, this reliable guide will not only allow you to value a company quickly, but will also help you make sense of valuations done by others or found in comprehensive equity research reports.