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. Louis, FRED , which contains historical data on almost every macroeconomic variable, at least for the US.

Risk Premium 91

Risk Premium Start-ups Market Capitalization Corporate Finance 91

Musings on Markets

MARCH 19, 2022

The overriding message in all of this data is that Russia/Ukraine war has unleashed fears in the bond market, and once unleashed that fear has pushed up worries about default and default risk premia across the board.

Start-ups 100

Start-ups Risk Premium Equity Market Capitalization 100

Musings on Markets

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

My two most recent valuations were in June 2019 and January 2020, and I am going to go back to them, not just because they are recent, but because they led to investment decisions on my part. Between June 2019 and January 2020, the stock went on a tear, as the stock price more than tripled, and I revisited my Tesla valuation.

Start-ups 99

Start-ups Dividends Marketability Market Capitalization 99

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 20, 2021

Note that nothing that I have said so far is premised on modern portfolio theory, or any academic view of risk premiums. It is true that economists have researched risk aversion for centuries and concluded that investors are collectively risk averse, and that the level of risk aversion varies across age groups, income levels and time.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Equity Dividends 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.

Equity 70

Equity Risk Premium Start-ups Dividends 70

Musings on Markets

MARCH 25, 2021

Coming in 2020, the ten-year T.Bond rate at 1.92% was already close to historic lows. The arrival of the COVID in February 2020, and the ensuing market meltdown, causing treasury rates to plummet across the spectrum, with three-month T.bill rates dropping from 1.5% In particular, the Fed's own assessments of real growth of 6.5%

Equity 52

Equity Risk-free Rate Treasury Start-ups 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 27, 2021

In my last post , I described the wild ride that the price of risk took in 2020, with equity risk premiums and default spreads initially sky rocketing, as the virus led to global economic shutdowns, and then just as abruptly dropping back to pre-crisis levels over the course of the year.

Start-ups 52

Start-ups Marketability Equity Treasury 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 27, 2022

Corporate Bonds: No Shortage of Risk Capital In my last post, I chronicled the movement in the equity risk premium, i.e. the price of risk in the equity market, during 2021, but the bond market has its own, and more measurable, price of risk in the form of corporate default spreads.

Risk-free Rate 84

Risk-free Rate Treasury Price to Book Start-ups 84

Musings on Markets

JULY 17, 2023

Exacerbating the pain, corporate default spreads rose during the course of 2022: While default spreads rose across ratings classes, the rise was much more pronounced for the lowest ratings classes, part of a bigger story about risk capital that spilled across markets and asset classes. US Equities in 2023: Into the Weeds!

Marketability 95

Marketability Risk Premium Start-ups Treasury 95

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

In some cases, a change in regulatory or tax law can put the business model for a company or many company at risk. I confess that the line between whether nature or man is to blame for some catastrophes is a gray one and to illustrate, consider the COVID crisis in 2020. Note that these higher discount rates apply in both scenarios.

Risk Premium 74

Risk Premium Start-ups Beta Marketability 74

ThomsonReuters

MAY 6, 2021

The adjustment added to the risk-free rate to arrive at the risk-adjusted rate is often referred to as the “risk premium.” The risk premium reflects that market participants require compensation for taking on uncertainty. The risk premium may incorporate factors such as credit risk or market illiquidity.

Discounted Cash Flow 52

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

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 5, 2024

Beta & Risk 1. Equity Risk Premiums 2. I also have implied equity risk premiums (forward-looking and dynamic estimate of what investors are pricing stocks to earn in the future) for the S&P 500 going back annually to 1960 and monthly to 2008, and equity risk premiums for countries. Buybacks 2.

Dividends 98

Dividends Risk Premium Equity Book Value 98

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

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

An Optimizing Tool In my second and third data posts for this year, I chronicled the effects of rising interest rates and risk premiums on costs of equity and capital. In computing the latter, I used the current debt ratios for firms, but made no attempt to evaluate whether these mixes were "right" or not.

Equity 52

Equity EBITDA Start-ups Net Debt 52

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

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

JULY 22, 2021

Revenues did drop in 2020, as COVID restrictions put a crimp on the restaurant business, but the quarterly data suggests that business is coming back. That number was 23.13% in FY 2020, but dropped to 21.03% in FY 2021, as shut downs put a crimp on business.

Marketability 86

Marketability Start-ups Equity Price to Book 86

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

MAY 11, 2021

At first sight, stocks have had an impressive run over much of the last century, delivering substantial return premiums over treasury bonds, treasury bills and corporate bonds: Historical returns on stocks, bonds and bills: 1928 -2020 These returns, though, are prior to personal taxes, and the tax bite can be substantial.

Dividends 52

Dividends Start-ups Risk Premium Treasury 52