Grateful to @AswathDamodaran for sharing his wisdom in this remarkable conversation with @veiled_value about the book, The Dark Side of Valuation.

Excerpts follow in this thread.
Members, access the full interview

@Gautam__Baid He laid down very similar principles a decade ago in his 1976 letter (Source: https://t.co/6Z5v0qEaIg)

What's amazing is how consistent he's been in following his philosophy even after nearly 5

"An Introduction to Valuation" by Aswath Damodaran is an excellent doc for learning more about Valuation, differences between Intrinsic Value (DCF) and Relative Valuations (their basics, Pros/Cons, when they work better...).

cc: @dmuthuk

Some of my fav slides from the presentation.

✔️Misconceptions about and approaches to Valuation.

While Financially Analyzing Businesses (esp Small Leaders), this is THE Order:

- Cash Flow Statement (Focus on Operating Cash)
- Cash Position

- Balance Sheet Strength
- Never Miss Receivables

- P&L

Cash >> Balance Sheet >> Finally P&L

#FI

Paying 50-100x earnings for 'blue ocean' sectors has become normalized with promise of changing trends and immense future opportunity. Stock markets look forward, if the future opportunity is great, in most cases that 100x valuation already factors a 30x valuation in 3 years.

For investors, the question of where the buck stops is difficult to answer, because the goal post keeps changing. 30x is reasonable for one business, for another 70x is acceptable. So why not everything in between too?

Not every business captures the opportunity available. There is many a slip between the cup and the lip, as my English teacher used to say. When investors have seen valuations creep from 20x to 100x in a matter of a year or two, it is easy to to keep dancing to the same music.

But like we used to play musical chairs in childhood, someone will be left standing too. And here the rules aren't that 1 person gets eliminated at a time, hundreds get crushed at the same time. In childhood, we had a 1/X chance of being caught standing when the music stopped.

The margin of safety was high till you got down to the last 3-4 people playing the game. Similarly, your margin of safety reduces dramatically when valuation becomes irrelevant. A few months of underperformance and suddenly things don't look so rosy any more.

EXCERCISE, showing how Discount Rates impact Valuation, using $NFLX as an example.

Why?

“Interest rates are to asset prices what gravity is to the apple. When there are low interest rates, there is a very low gravitational pull on asset prices"

--- Warren Buffett

(1/4)

The Futures curve is pricing in 8 Interest rate increases, or +210bp that the ANALYTS at Investment Banks have NOT yet adjusted for in Models

Investment Banks typically use the 10yr Bond, + Equity risk Premium + Beta Adjustment to arrive at a Discount Rate😉

Cont ..

(2/4)

Scenario 1 - Use todays scenario Consensus (Factset) with a 7% Discount Rate, gets +10% upside in Share price for $NFLX to $416 (36.3x P/E)

Yet ...

(3/4)

Scenario 2 - Same Consensus forecast but add 210bp to the Discount Rate. Surprise Surprise😉 Now there is -31% to todays Share price, with a price of $263 (22.9x P/E)

What do you choose 🧐❓

This is why there is always a focus on the 10 Yr Bond, as Equities are priced to Bonds & the cashflow they can generate

Now you can see how sensitive valuations can be to changes in Interest Rates. The Bond Market is pricing in rises, YET Analysts at Investments Banks have not