Business-valuation

This book should be titled "I do not know how to price all risks when valuing companies so here are 101 fudge factor guesses I use instead". This is the wrong way to value companies and is inconsistent with financial asset pricing theory. Look elsewhere for better resources.

Pratt took his many years of valuation experience and put it in this one book. The book reviews the theory and practice of how to derive a discount rate for use in a DCF. At present, it's the best book in print for appraisers.

The valuation profession has exploded among CPAs, CBAs and others who attend a few seminars and then undertake to do this complicated work. Many end up doing a shabby job, because they do not understand basic concepts of cost of capital. The understanding of aspiring business appraisers will grow from reading this book, as (I believe) mine did.

This book is NOT written by an academician (although I think I recall that Shannon has a PhD in finance). A fair example of an academician's work, reflecting a different approach and serving different needs, is Bradford Cornell's fine work on the equity risk premium.

Pratt has authored several classic books on business valuation. He has valued thousands and testified in US Tax Court, state courts and federal courts across the country. He continues to speak to business appraisers across the country. This book summarizes issues he knows need to be better understood by those of us who consult with closely held businesses.

This is a short book and an easy read, but packed with good information for those who want to better understand the cost of capital in the context of valuing small businesses.

Brad's book is strong on concepts and illustrations. The book is well-written and reads like Aesop's fables, i.e. Brad tells you a story and you walk away with the idea. I wish Prof. Cornell could add an audio version of this book. Very few people can explain complicated financial economic concepts as well as Brad can. An audio version of this book can make more people enjoy Brad's lecturing talent, while absorbing the gist of corporate valuation sketched in this book. That's right, sketched ... :-)

A great summary on the conventional wisdom about the equity risk premium. It covers -and combine- theory and evidence in a very reasonable balance. A couple of warnings. First, it puts the same emphasis on several alternative explanations, not always comparing and weighting them. Second, the book has some typos being probably the most important that of page 103 (equation 3.2). Nevertheless, a must have for every finance practitioner.

This book truly deserves a raving review. I have read a lot of litterature on the subject but this book is the one I have been longing for. It is comprehensive, practical and very easy to grasp. At the same time, as the authors have professional experience from valuation, it is very insightful, both regarding valuations and the process surrounding it. A must have for anyone interested in corporate valuation!

This book is a gives a great overview of the Corporate Valuation area while at the same time being deep enough to give you all the tools for conducting your own valuation. I am an owner of a number of businesses and valuation questions tend to come up from time to time and after having read this book I will be able to handle those situation with a lot more professionalism. The best thing about the book though is that the authors seem to have real life experience of building and running companies themselves. While reading the book, I constantly came up with ideas on how to improve the businesses I own. The book focuses a lot on analyzing the business and the value drivers of the industry as well as on how to build value. As such, it also becomes an invaluable resource as a guide and inspiration on business building/improvement. The only weakness of the book is its lack of mathematical proofs, as the authors focus on how to do a valuation rather than why the formulas look the way they do. However, that said, I think this book is a must read for business students, business owners, board members and general management.

This book is a gives a great overview of the Corporate Valuation area while at the same time being deep enough to give you all the tools for conducting your own valuation. I am an owner of a number of businesses and valuation questions tend to come up from time to time and after having read this book I will be able to handle those situation with a lot more professionalism. The best thing about the book though is that the authors seem to have real life experience of building and running companies themselves. While reading the book, I constantly came up with ideas on how to improve the businesses I own. The book focuses a lot on analyzing the business and the value drivers of the industry as well as on how to build value. As such, it also becomes an invaluable resource as a guide and inspiration on business building/improvement. The only weakness of the book is its lack of mathematical proofs, as the authors focus on how to do a valuation rather than why the formulas look the way they do. However, that said, I think this book is a must read for business students, business owners, board members and general management.

This book serves as an excellent introduction to and/or refresher on valuation techniques. The entire valuation process (primarily DCF) is broken down into a series of steps, each of which gets its own complete chapter. Each chapter is well written and builds on its predecessors.

A particular strength of the book is the authors' reference to Excel functions and which ones are useful in valuation models. This book is not just theory; there are concrete "how to" examples throughout. Once you've finished this book, you can do more than cite valuation theory: you can build valuation models.

One of the best finance books I've ever read.

This is one of the best practical corporate finance books you can find. It serves especially well as a bridge between introductory finance and more advanced topics. The authors did an excellent job at hammering some most important concepts into readers' heads while avoiding too much theoretical complications that hinter understanding. The step-by-step valuation method is especially valuable. The use of the spreadsheet is enormously helpful for students of finance. Highly recommended! I hope Professor Benninga and Professor Sarig can keep producing this kind of hands-on, clear guide to finance. (and maybe a series of books at different difficulty levels)

If you are new to corporate finance valuation this book will take you to the next level. Provides step by step instruction on how to value companies. Covers Excel techniques with easy to follow examples. Covers 1 full semester at most business schools.