Musings on Markets

JANUARY 31, 2024

In my last three posts, I looked at the macro (equity risk premiums, default spreads, risk free rates) and micro (company risk measures) that feed into the expected returns we demand on investments, and argued that these expected returns become hurdle rates for businesses, in the form of costs of equity and capital.

Equity 80

Equity Book Value Start-ups Corporate Finance 80

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 6, 2023

Check rules of thumb : Investing and corporate finance are full of rules of thumb, many of long standing. For example, I have seen it asserted that a stock that trades at less than book value is cheap or that a stock that trades at more than twenty times EBITDA is expensive. Cap Ex & Net Cap Ex ((including acquisitons) 2.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Dividends Start-ups EBITDA 52

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

The second is that borrowing money will increase perceived default risk, and if the company is rated, lower ratings, and that too is true, but borrowing money at a BBB rating, with the tax benefit incorporated, might still yield a lower cost of funding that staying at a AA rating, with no debt in use. Do companies optimize financing mix?

Equity 52

Equity EBITDA Start-ups Net Debt 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 9, 2021

Challenge rules of thumb and conventional wisdom : Investing has always had rules of thumb on how and when to invest, ranging from using historical PE or CAPE ratios to decide if markets are over valued, to simplistic rules (eg. buy stocks that trade at less than book value or trade at PEG ratios less than one) for individual stocks.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Market Capitalization Equity Start-ups 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 5, 2024

I have also developed a practice in the last decade of spending much of January exploring what the data tells us, and does not tell us, about the investing, financing and dividend choices that companies made during the most recent year. Beta & Risk 1. Equity Risk Premiums 2. Financing Flows 5. Debt Details 1.

Dividends 105

Dividends Risk Premium Equity Book Value 105

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 10, 2025

In corporate finance and investing, which are areas that I work in, I find myself doing double takes as I listen to politicians, market experts and economists making statements about company and market behavior that are fairy tales, and data is often my weapon for discerning the truth. Beta & Risk 1. Equity Risk Premiums 2.

Risk Premium 115

Risk Premium Dividends Start-ups Corporate Finance 115

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

With these characteristics, the accounting balance sheets for these companies will be identical right after they start up, and the book value of equity will be $60 million in each company. In this example, for instance, business A, with a market value of equity of $150 million and a book value of equity of $60 million, will trade at 2.50

Equity 52

Equity Book Value Marketability Start-ups 52