Musings on Markets

JANUARY 30, 2023

Returns in 2022 In my first classes in finance, as a student, I was taught that the US treasury rate was a risk free rate, with the logic being that since the US treasury could always print money, it would not default.

Treasury 74

Treasury Start-ups Risk Premium Equity 74

Musings on Markets

MAY 6, 2022

Inflation: The Full Story I wrote my first post on this blog in 2008, and inflation merited barely a mention until 2020, though it is an integral component of investing and valuation. In fact, the average inflation rate in the 2011-20 decade was the lowest of the seven decades that I cover in this chart.

Risk Premium 92

Risk Premium Treasury Start-ups Equity 92

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 20, 2021

If, on the other hand, investors are risk neutral, the price of risk will be zero, and investors will buy risky business, stocks and other investments, and settle for the risk free rate as the expected return. If you buy into this measure of equity risk premiums, consider its limitations.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Equity Dividends 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 8, 2022

Those measures took a beating in 2020, as COVID decimated the earnings of companies in many sectors and regions of the world, and while 2021 was a return to some degree of normalcy, there is still damage that has to be worked through.

Risk Premium 91

Risk Premium Start-ups Market Capitalization Corporate Finance 91

ThomsonReuters

MAY 6, 2021

The Codification often provides guidance on how to select a discount rate for a particular area of accounting. The Codification may require the use of a risk-free rate in some places and a risk-adjusted rate in others. Recent events have also impacted the components of the discount rate.

Discounted Cash Flow 52

Discounted Cash Flow Risk-free Rate Risk Premium Intangible Assets 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 12, 2021

I also offer online classes in basic finance (present value, risk models and measures) and accounting (or at least my version of it) as background to my main classes. Discount rates in intrinsic valaution have to change to reflect current market conditions, and can be expected to change over time.

Corporate Finance 52

Corporate Finance Start-ups Finance Marketability 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 21, 2023

It is the nature of stocks that you have good years and bad ones, and much as we like to forget about the latter during market booms, they recur at regular intervals, if for no other reason than to remind us that risk is not an abstraction, and that stocks don't always win, even in the long term. Stocks: The What Next?

Equity 70

Equity Risk Premium Start-ups Dividends 70

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 79

Equity Book Value Start-ups Corporate Finance 79

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 26, 2023

Tesla's rise is summarized in the graph below, where we look at the company's revenues and earnings over time, with earnings measured in gross and operating terms, and EBITDA capturing operating cash flows: 2022 numbers updated to reflect 4th quarter earnings call on 1/25/23 Between 2010 and 2020, Tesla grew revenues from $117 million to $31.5

Start-ups 80

Start-ups Marketability Risk Premium Equity 80

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 5, 2024

That said, there are some of you who are not doing your analysis in real time, either because you are in the appraisal business and must value your company as of the start of 2020 or 2021, or a researcher looking at changes over time. will reflect the most recent quarterly accounting filing.

Dividends 98

Dividends Risk Premium Equity Book Value 98

Musings on Markets

MAY 24, 2021

As the economy climbs back from the shutdown in 2020, there are some who argue that the monetary and fiscal stimuli of the last year, unprecedented though they may be in size and scale, will not cause inflation because the economy has substantial excess capacity. Louis estimates for inflation rates exceeding 2.5%

Treasury 55

Treasury Start-ups Risk Premium Price to Book 55