Equity Valuation

What is Equity valuation?

Equity Valuation is a process conducted by financial experts to determine the fair market value of a particular company’s assets or equity securities. Usually, investors evaluate the company’s true value of its equity before investing. They evaluate using various techniques by looking at their business management, capital structure and their performance, expected future earnings, and current market value of their assets. Commonly, there are two types of equity valuation methods. The first is the absolute valuation method. It finds the true value of a stock based on fundamental analysis. The second is the relative valuation method which uses comparison techniques. It compares the company with peer company ratios such as the P/E ratio to derive the equity value of a particular stock.

Significance of Equity Valuation:

Systematic – The stock market is largely dependent on equity valuation. The stock market includes varieties of stocks from all sectors and industries. So, the market value fluctuates every minute due to the change in information that the market receives on the basic equity valuation. Valuation is the backbone of the whole financial system. It allows companies to operate with strong business models. Only those who are fundamentally strong are in top valuations. 

Individual – Along with the micro-level, equity valuation helps at an individual level also. Due to the equity valuation, the stock’s market value fluctuates every minute. This is due to the change in information that the market receives. So, a person evaluates varying effects and comes up with different results. 

Process of equity valuation:

Understanding various factors in macro environments – Firstly, it is important to understand the industry in which the company operates as its performance is highly influenced by the economic factors, their factors, and their operations. Economic parameters create a strong base for any equity valuation.

Forecasting – Investors forecast performance after considering not only currently trending but after evaluating all the past performances as a strong evaluation and analyzing technique is needed for coming to a final forecast. Cost and sales are important factors too in any forecasting for which investors need strong intricate knowledge base and experience.

Choosing the appropriate equity valuation model – As there are multiple valuation techniques and models available for investors they need to choose after understanding the sector, industry, and company’s business model. It is the responsibility of an analyst to select appropriate techniques.

Valuation Figure – After applying the valuation model, the next step is the final valuation. Analysts can come up with a single figure or range. However, investors prefer figures which have ranges. Different analysts may come up with different values because of using different models or considering different factors.

Final decision – It is based on all the factors and considering all the possible uncertainties. Finally, analysts come up with the final decision for a particular stock whether to buy, sell or hold depending on the current market price and intrinsic value.

Various Methods of Equity Valuation:

Based on different factors such as liquidity value, book value, replacement value, discounting factor, earnings ratios, price to book value, and profitability ratio, different equity valuation methods are broadly classified.

Balance sheet techniques – It utilizes all the information available on the balance sheet. It considers all the standards of accounting. Some of the major techniques in the Balance sheet method are Book value Method, liquidation method, and replacement method.

Discounted cash flow method – This model first evaluates the present value of future dividends for getting the present value of equity. They have different assumptions in different models like the single growth model, multi-period model, constant growth model, free cash flow model, two-stage model, H model, and zero growth model. One of the known methods is the dividend discount method.

Earnings multiple technique or Relative valuation – It is also known as the comparable method. It uses peers’ and competitors’ values to determine the value of equity. Earnings or relative valuation includes ratios such as price-to-earnings ratio, price-to-book value ratio, and price-to-sales value ratio.