Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 11, 2023

In the month since, I have added two more data updates, one on US equities and one on interest rates , but my attention was drawn away by other interesting stories. Default Risk As with individuals and businesses, governments (sovereigns) borrow money and sometimes struggle to pay them back, leading to to the specter of sovereign default.

Risk Premium 97

Risk Premium Start-ups Equity Marketability 97

Musings on Markets

MAY 6, 2022

Investment Consequences As the storm clouds of higher inflation and interest rates, in conjunction with slower or even negative economic growth, gather, it should come as no surprise that equity markets are struggling to find their footing. At the close of trading on May 5, 2022, the S&P 500 stood at 4147, down 13.3%

Risk Premium 103

Risk Premium Treasury Start-ups Equity 103

Reynolds Holding

OCTOBER 22, 2024

In leveraged buyouts (LBOs), a private equity (PE) sponsor acquires controlling ownership of a target company, typically by using a significant amount of bank loans. In a new study, we focus on a controversial issue: Many PE sponsors have prior relationships with law firms representing banks in LBO loan negotiations.

Equity 45

Equity Risk Premium Banking Private Equity Firm 45

Musings on Markets

JULY 17, 2023

In my second data update post from the start of this year , I looked at US equities in 2022, with the S&P 500 down almost 20% during the year and the NASDAQ, overweighted in technology, feeling even more pain, down about a third, during the year. trillion below their values from the start of 2022. that was lost last year.

Marketability 98

Marketability Risk Premium Start-ups Treasury 98

Musings on Markets

AUGUST 15, 2023

Expected returns for Risky Investments : The risk-free rate becomes the base on which you build to estimate expected returns on all other investments. For instance, if you read my last post on equity risk premiums , I described the equity risk premium as the additional return you would demand, over and above the risk free rate.

Risk-free Rate 98

Risk-free Rate Risk Premium Treasury Start-ups 98

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 30, 2023

If 2022 was an unsettling year for equities, as I noted in my second data post, it was an even more tumultuous year for the bond market. Historical Context In my earlier post, I noted that US equity market performance in 2022 made it the seventh worst year in stock market history, if you go back to 1928.

Treasury 97

Treasury Start-ups Risk Premium Equity 97

Valutico

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

For central banks like the Federal Reserve, it helps control the economy. They set this rate to affect how much money moves through banks and influences short-term interest rates. The discount rate effectively encapsulates the risk associated with an investment; riskier investments attract a higher discount rate.

Discounted Cash Flow 52

Discounted Cash Flow Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Beta 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 27, 2022

While we have increasingly given central banks primacy in discussions of interest rates, it remains my view that markets set rates, and while central banks can nudge market expectations, they cannot alter them.

Risk-free Rate 99

Risk-free Rate Treasury Price to Book Start-ups 99

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 82

Equity Book Value Start-ups Corporate Finance 82

Simply Treasury

AUGUST 2, 2022

The idea is not new to encourage companies to increase their capitalization and reduce their bank debt (partly through more recourse to the capital market - CMU project). DEBRA Proposal (« Debt-Equity Bias Reduction Allowance). DEBRA Proposal (« Debt-Equity Bias Reduction Allowance). Two major axes.

Equity 52

Equity Risk Premium Banking Finance 52

Brian DeChesare

MAY 3, 2023

But people who aim for investment banking roles are very much into those bells and whistles, so questions about the DDM and other “exotic” methodologies began rolling in. To be fair, in some industries – like commercial banks and insurance within FIG – the DDM is a core valuation methodology.

Dividends 64

Dividends Terminal Value Enterprise Value Equity 64

Andrew Stolz

MARCH 20, 2020

A firm uses a mix of equity and debt to minimize the cost of capital. In general, the cost of debt is lower than the cost of equity due to the tax advantage of debt. A firm borrows from banks or bondholders and it has to pay the interest. The popular method to find the cost of equity is the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM).

Beta 52

Beta Capital Structure Risk-free Rate Weighted Average Cost of Capital 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 9, 2021

The second was that, starting mid-year in 2020, equity markets and the real economy moved in different directions, with the former rising on the expectations a post-virus future, and the latter languishing, as most of the world continued to operate with significant constraints.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Market Capitalization Equity Start-ups 52

Musings on Markets

MAY 24, 2021

Looking at US equities, the S&P 500 is up about 11% and the NASDAQ about 5%, from start of the year levels, and the underperformance of the latter has led to a wave of stories about whether this is start of the long awaited comeback of value stocks, after a decade of lagging growth stocks.

Treasury 55

Treasury Start-ups Risk Premium Price to Book 55

Appraisal Rights

JUNE 5, 2017

Further to our prior post about Delaware’s two new appraisal decisions, SWS Group was a small, struggling bank holding company that merged on January 1, 2015 into one of its own substantial creditors, Hilltop Holdings. Stockholders of SWS received a mix of cash and Hilltop stock worth $6.92 at closing. below the merger price.

Beta 40

Beta Risk Premium Capital Structure Discounted Cash Flow 40

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

Appraiser Newsroom

JUNE 4, 2024

Dr. Everett is the author of the children’s financial literacy thriller Toby Gold and the Secret Fortune, which incorporates such financial topics as saving, investing, banking, entrepreneurship, interest rates, return on investment, and net worth. Everett He holds a Ph.D. in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University. Petersburg, Russia.

Business Valuation 59

Business Valuation Intangible Assets Appraisal Finance 59

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 19, 2022

If equity markets surprised us with their resilience in 2020, not just weathering a pandemic for the ages, but prospering in its midst, US equity markets, in particular, managed to find light even in the darkest news stories, and continued their rise through 2021. The year that was.

Risk Premium 99

Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Start-ups Equity 99

Musings on Markets

JULY 1, 2022

And Consequences If you are wondering why you should care about risk capital's ebbs and flows, it is because you will feel its effects in almost everything you do in investing and business. The 2008 banking and market crisis caused a drop of almost 50% in 2009, and it took the market almost five years to return to pre-crisis levels.

Marketability 100

Marketability Risk Premium Start-ups Equity 100

Musings on Markets

JULY 25, 2023

Investors in Saudi Arabia are still exposed to significant risks from political upheaval or unrest, and may prefer a more comprehensive measure of country risk. For three decades, I have wrestled with measuring this additional risk exposure and converting that measurement into an equity risk premium, but it remains a work in progress.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Equity Start-ups Risk-free Rate 52

Musings on Markets

MARCH 19, 2022

In this section, I will begin by looking at the bond market effects and then move on to equities and other asset classes, starting by looking at the localized reaction (for Ukranian and Russian securities) and then the global ripple effects. As Russian equities have imploded, the ripple effects again are being felt across the globe.

Start-ups 100

Start-ups Risk Premium Equity Market Capitalization 100

Musings on Markets

MARCH 25, 2021

The first quarter of 2021 has been, for the most part, a good time for equity markets, but there have been surprises. Those rates stayed low through the rest of 2020, even as equity markets recovered and corporate bond spreads fell back to pre-crisis levels. Risk premiums No effect or even a decrease.

Equity 52

Equity Risk-free Rate Treasury Start-ups 52

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Minuses : As in the last approach, you still have to estimate a probability that a catastrophe will occur, and in addition, and there can be challenges in estimating the value of a business, if the company fails in the face of catastrophic risk. 4 & 5 Uninsurable Risk. Note that these higher discount rates apply in both scenarios.

Risk Premium 78

Risk Premium Start-ups Beta Marketability 78

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

To fund the business, you can either use borrowed money (debt) or owner's funds (equity), and while both are sources of capital, they represent different claims on the business. Even government-owned businesses fall under its umbrella, with the key difference being that equity is provided by the taxpayers.

Equity 52

Equity EBITDA Start-ups Net Debt 52

Musings on Markets

MARCH 28, 2022

If these ESG revisionists are to be believed, if companies had adopted ESG early enough, there would have been no banking crisis in 2008, and if investors had screened stocks for ESG quality, they would not have lost money in the corporate scandals and meltdowns of the last decade.

Start-ups 118

Start-ups Alpha Marketability Risk Premium 118

Musings on Markets

JULY 24, 2024

After the 2008 market crisis, I resolved that I would be far more organized in my assessments and updating of equity risk premiums, in the United States and abroad, as I looked at the damage that can be inflicted on intrinsic value by significant shifts in risk premiums, i.e., my definition of a crisis.

Risk Premium 77

Risk Premium Equity Start-ups EBITDA 77

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 28, 2025

It was an interesting year for interest rates in the United States, one in which we got more evidence on the limited power that central banks have to alter the trajectory of market interest rates. We started 2024 with the consensus wisdom that rates would drop during the year, driven by expectations of rate cuts from the Fed.

Banking 71

Banking Treasury Risk Premium Start-ups 71

Musings on Markets

MAY 3, 2025

I started the month on a trip to Latin America, just as the tariff story hit my newsfeed and the market reacted with a sell off that knocked more than $9 trillion in market cap for global equities in the next two days. Equities: Storm Clouds gather (and dissipate)! trillion that they lost in the first week of the month.

Marketability 95

Marketability Start-ups Treasury Risk Premium 95

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 23, 2025

The Debt Trade off As a prelude to examining the debt and equity tradeoff, it is best to first nail down what distinguishes the two sources of capital. To me, the key distinction between debt and equity lies in the nature of the claims that its holders have on cash flows from the business.

Equity 77

Equity EBITDA Risk Premium Gross Debt 77

Musings on Markets

APRIL 20, 2025

For the market, it is often built on papers (or books) that look at the historical data on what equity markets have delivered as returns over long periods, relative to what you would have made investing elsewhere. Contrarian Investing: The Psychological Tests! In the abstract, it is easy to understand the appeal of contrarian investing.

Start-ups 136

Start-ups Price to Book Marketability Equity 136

Musings on Markets

MARCH 15, 2025

Thus, my estimates of equity risk premiums, updated every month, are not designed to make big statements about markets but more to get inputs I need to value companies. That said, to value companies today, I have no choice but to bring in the economics and politics of the world that these companies inhabit.

Start-ups 132

Start-ups Risk Premium Marketability Equity 132

Equidam

APRIL 22, 2025

2] Startups typically lack significant historical financial data, often operate with negative profits initially, rely heavily on private equity or venture capital rather than traditional bank loans, and face a much higher risk of failure. [1] This premium rises when perceived market risk increases. [27]

Discounted Cash Flow 52

Discounted Cash Flow Marketability Risk Premium Start-ups 52

Reynolds Holding

MARCH 25, 2025

Healy before the Subcommittee on Banking and Currency on Wagner-Lea Act, S. Investment companies have been compelled to finance banking clients of the insiders and companies in which they were personally interested. at 25) and they hold more of their wealth in regulated funds, as opposed to bank products, than Europe or Japan ( id.

Corporate Finance 45

Corporate Finance Finance Banking Marketability 45

Equidam

APRIL 22, 2025

It determines the price per share, dictating how much equity founders concede in exchange for the capital raised. [3] 3] , [7] , [6] It sets a benchmark against which future fundraising rounds will be measured and helps investors assess whether the potential upside justifies the significant risks associated with early-stage ventures. [8]

Discounted Cash Flow 64

Discounted Cash Flow Terminal Value Marketability EBITDA 64

Reynolds Holding

FEBRUARY 23, 2025

Strong empirical evidence shows the United States has a lower cost of equity capital than comparable countries and that this lower cost is attributable in part to an institutional design that protects the independence of securities regulators and assures strong enforcement. Bank of England Working Paper (2020). 3] [link]. [4]

Systematic Risk 45

Systematic Risk Marketability Equity Risk Premium 45

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

The results, broken down broadly by geography are in the table below: As you can see, the aggregate market cap globally was up 12.17%, but much of that was the result of a strong US equity market. That process of risk analysis and estimating risk premiums starts by understanding why some countries are riskier than others.

Risk Premium 69

Risk Premium Start-ups Enterprise Value Equity 69