Musings on Markets

JANUARY 17, 2024

While stocks had their ups and downs during the year, they ended the year strong, and recouped, at least in the aggregate, most of the losses from 2022. Stocks ended the year well, with November and December both delivering strong up movements, and while this left investors feeling good about the year, it was a rocky year.

Risk Premium 81

Risk Premium Start-ups Equity Dividends 81

Musings on Markets

MAY 6, 2022

In most time periods, those recalibrations and resets tend to be small and in both directions, resulting in the ups and downs that pass for normal volatility. Clearly, we are not in one of those time periods, as markets approach bipolar territory, with big moves up and down.

Risk Premium 103

Risk Premium Treasury Start-ups Equity 103

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

Investors all talk about risk, but there seems to be little consensus on what it is, how it should be measured, and how it plays out in the short and long term. In closing, I will talk about some of the more dangerous delusions that undercut good risk taking. What is risk?

Risk Premium 92

Risk Premium Beta Start-ups Equity 92

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. Dividends and Potential Dividends (FCFE) 1. Equity Risk Premiums 2.

Dividends 106

Dividends Risk Premium Equity Book Value 106

Musings on Markets

JULY 17, 2023

At the start of the year, the consensus of market experts was that this would be a difficult year for markets, given the macro worries about inflation and an impending recession, and adding in the fear of the Fed raising rates to this mix made bullishness a rare commodity on Wall Street.

Marketability 98

Marketability Risk Premium Start-ups Treasury 98

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 20, 2021

In this post, I offer an alternative, albeit a more complicated, metric that I believe offers not only a more comprehensive measure of pricing, but also operates as a barometer of the ups and downs in the market. Note that nothing that I have said so far is premised on modern portfolio theory, or any academic view of risk premiums.

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Equity Dividends 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 6, 2023

In my last post, I talked about the ritual that I go through every year ahead of my teaching each spring, and in this one, I will start on the first of a series of posts that I make at the start of each year, where I look at data, both macro and company-level. That is not true!

Risk Premium 52

Risk Premium Dividends Start-ups EBITDA 52

Musings on Markets

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

As I have valued Tesla over the years, I have come to the realization that it is the most 'uncar-like" automobile company in the world, and its uniqueness shows up on two dimensions. Put simply, the company has been able to scale up more quickly, while reinvesting less in capacity, than any other automobile company.

Start-ups 101

Start-ups Dividends Marketability Market Capitalization 101

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

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

JANUARY 12, 2021

I also start thinking about my passion, which is teaching, the spring semester to come, and the classes that I will be teaching, repeating a process that I have gone through every year since 1984, my first year as a teacher. Face up to uncertainty, rather than avoid or deny it : Uncertainty is a feature of investing/ business, not a bug.

Corporate Finance 52

Corporate Finance Start-ups Finance Marketability 52

Equilest

MARCH 17, 2022

We note that the higher the expected rate (in other words, the greater the risk is perceived as necessary, to the point of requiring a substantial "risk premium"), the lower the multiple that will apply and therefore the lower valuation: we buy cheaper which is less safe. 11% per year. 10% per year. around 1.5%). -

Business Valuation 40

Business Valuation EBIT Discounted Cash Flow EBITDA 40

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 19, 2022

In a post at the start of 2021 , I argued that while stocks entered the year at elevated levels, especially on historic metrics (such as PE ratios), they were priced to deliver reasonable returns, relative to very low risk free rates (with the treasury bond rate at 0.93% at the start of 2021). The year that was.

Risk Premium 99

Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Start-ups Equity 99

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 28, 2024

Third, by making investing a choice between good (higher returns) and bad (higher risk), a message is sent, perhaps unwittingly, that risk is something to be avoided or hedged. micro uncertainties, into discount rates, and in the process, they end up incorporating risk that investors can eliminate, often at no cost.

Risk Premium 121

Risk Premium Beta Start-ups Equity 121

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 8, 2022

To start the year, I returned to a ritual that I have practiced for thirty years, and that is to take a look at not just market changes over the last year, but also to get measures of the financial standing and practices of companies around the world. Happy New Year, and I hope that 2022 brings you good tidings! Sometimes, less is more!

Risk Premium 99

Risk Premium Start-ups Market Capitalization Corporate Finance 99

Musings on Markets

MAY 11, 2021

In the weeks since, the administration has come up with its follow-up proposal, this one funded by increases in individual taxes, primarily on the wealthy. It is for this reason that some countries, like the UK and Australia, allow investors to claim a tax credit, for corporate taxes paid, on dividend income.

Dividends 52

Dividends Start-ups Risk Premium Treasury 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 17, 2025

In my last post , I noted that the US has extended its dominance of global equities in recent years, increasing its share of market capitalization from 42% in at the start of 2023 to 44% at the start of 2024 to 49% at the start of 2025.

Equity 129

Equity Risk Premium Treasury Start-ups 129

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)!

Marketability 95

Marketability Start-ups Treasury Risk Premium 95

Musings on Markets

APRIL 20, 2025

There are strands of research in both behavioral finance and empirical studies that back up contrarian strategies, but as with everything to do with investing, it comes with caveats and constraints. In the third, constrained contrarianism , you buy the stocks that are down, but only if they pass your screens for qualify and safety.

Start-ups 136

Start-ups Price to Book Marketability Equity 136

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 23, 2025

When the debt is within reasonable bounds (scaling up with the company), a company can borrow money, and not lower its ratings. Even if bond ratings drop, a business may be worth more, at that lower rating, if the tax benefits from the debt offset the higher default risk.

Equity 77

Equity EBITDA Risk Premium Gross Debt 77

Musings on Markets

MARCH 15, 2025

I will start with a couple of confessions. 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.

Start-ups 132

Start-ups Risk Premium Marketability Equity 132