Product Description

Investment Valuation

Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset

Valuation is at the heart of every investment decision, whether that decision is to buy, sell, or hold. But the pricing of any financial asset has become a more complex task in modern financial markets. Now completely revised and fully updated to reflect changing market conditions, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, provides expert instruction on how to value virtually any type of asset–stocks, bonds, options, futures, real assets, and much more.

Noted valuation authority and acclaimed NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran uses real-world examples and the most current valuation tools, as he guides you through the theory and application of valuation models and highlights their strengths and weaknesses.

Expanded coverage addresses:

• Valuation of unconventional assets, financial service firms, start-ups, private companies, dot-coms, and many other traditionally valued assets
• Risk in foreign countries and how best to deal with it
• Using real option theory and option pricing models in valuing business and equity
• The models used to value different types of assets and the elements of these models
• How to choose the right model for any given asset valuation scenario
• Online real-time valuations that are continually updated

A perfect guide for those who need to know more about the tricky business of valuation, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, will be a valuable asset for anyone learning about this critical part of the investment process.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130198 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 992 pages

From the Inside Flap
Investment Valuation

Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset

Regarded as one of the top experts on investment valuation, NYU Stern Business School professor Aswath Damodaran returns with a completely revised Second Edition of his classic, Investment Valuation. This practical, comprehensive guide covers a wide range of tools and techniques, both new and old, for determining the value of any asset, including the valuation of stocks, bonds, options, futures, real assets, and much more.

Using updated real-world examples and the most current valuation tools, this Second Edition addresses new sectors such as dot-coms, private companies, and financial service firms that pose complex valuation problems. Damodaran guides you through the theory and application of different valuation models and clarifies the entire process from cash flow valuation and relative valuation to acquisition valuation.

An invaluable resource for authoritative information, analysis, and insight, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, covers all the key topics in asset valuation, including:

• Choosing the right valuation model for any given asset valuation scenario
• Applying valuation techniques to start-up firms, unconventional assets, private equity, and real estate
• Risk and return–domestically and abroad
• Value enhancement measures such as economic value-added (EVA) and cash flow return on investment (CFROI)
• Using real option theory and option pricing models in valuing individual assets such as patents as well as entire businesses

Investment Valuation, Second Edition, thoroughly explains the valuation process from the ground up and offers you some of the most flexible approaches to valuing assets.In fact, the valuations will be constantly updated online, so you can have a closer link to real-time valuations.

Filled with case studies and proven valuation models, this indispensable guide is a must for anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of investment valuation and its methods. Take the insight and advice of a recognized authority on the valuation process and put them to work for you today.

From the Back Cover
Investment Valuation

Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset

Valuation is at the heart of every investment decision, whether that decision is to buy, sell, or hold. But the pricing of any financial asset has become a more complex task in modern financial markets. Now completely revised and fully updated to reflect changing market conditions, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, provides expert instruction on how to value virtually any type of asset–stocks, bonds, options, futures, real assets, and much more.

Noted valuation authority and acclaimed NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran uses real-world examples and the most current valuation tools, as he guides you through the theory and application of valuation models and highlights their strengths and weaknesses.

Expanded coverage addresses:

• Valuation of unconventional assets, financial service firms, start-ups, private companies, dot-coms, and many other traditionally valued assets
• Risk in foreign countries and how best to deal with it
• Using real option theory and option pricing models in valuing business and equity
• The models used to value different types of assets and the elements of these models
• How to choose the right model for any given asset valuation scenario
• Online real-time valuations that are continually updated

A perfect guide for those who need to know more about the tricky business of valuation, Investment Valuation, Second Edition, will be a valuable asset for anyone learning about this critical part of the investment process.

About the Author
ASWATH DAMODARAN is Professor of Finance at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding teaching, including the NYU university-wide Distinguished Teaching Award, and was named one of the nation’s top business school teachers by Business Week in 1994. In addition, Damodaran teaches training courses in corporate finance and valuation at many leading investment banks. His publications include Damodaran on Valuation; Investment Valuation; Corporate Finance; Investment Management; and Applied Corporate Finance, all published by Wiley, and The Dark Side of Valuation.

Customer Reviews

One of the two valuation reference books
For investors subscribed to discounted cash flows valuation (DCF), there is no other books that offer the kind of in-depth anlaysis (both in step-by-step description and available scenarios using real companies) like this book does. Plus, Professor Damodaran maintains a free website where Excel-based valuation models and industry data are periodically updated. These features make the book invaluable. In short, if I am allowed to buy only one investment book, this is the one.

But since I can buy as many books as I want, it would be more important to tell what this book does not do. First, it's always important to get a second opinion. In this case, it would be something other than DCF. Currently, DCF and relative valuation (such as PE and PV) are the dominent valuation methods used in the U.S. And yes, they are both covered in-depth by this book, in addition to the Economic Value Addded method which is gaining momentum in recent years. But this book essentially dismisses the income statements in favor of cash flows statements for valuing securities, preferring DCF to relative valuation. This is certainly understandable in lights of recent manipulation of GAAP income by offenders like Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. But I believe it's important for investors to hear the voice for income statements valuation method. For that investors should get James English's Applied Equity Analysis - another must-have - as a second valuation reference book. Secondly, this book uses CAPM model for finding the discount rate. Again, it is true that CAPM is the most widely used model in the U.S., but I came to a conclusion, after reading close to a hundred critically acclaimed articles published in the last fifty years as part of my MBA requirements, that factor models provide better tracking of stock prices than CAPM does. Unfortunately, there is no good book available. For institutional investors, they can have models from BARRA and Wilshire, etc, but individual investors would have to construct their own, probably (like me) using the Fama-French three-factor model. Description of their model is available mostly from theirs and other published papers. Data are available from Kenneth French's own website at Dartmouth. Now since you read all the way through my review, here is your reward: go to Damodaran's website and download the manuscript of this book for free if you are really frugal.

The best valuation book I know of, but not perfect.
I bought this book to replace an older valuation book also by Damodoran. I'm a professional analyst and am quite familiar with valuations, and this book provides a very thorough and comprehensive guide. I bought it just in time to serve as guidance through a very heavy and comprehensive research project.

Everything I needed for the project was in the book, however one thing surprised and disappointed me: the organization. I simply don't see much of a logical flow in the chapter structure, so I think it would be more difficult to someone who wasn't already familiar with the basic structure of the valuation process. Why is market efficiency jammed between unrelated chapters? Why is the discussion and examples of the pro-forma capitalization of R&D split between distant chapters? Throughout a single project, one would have to keep the book marked in several diffent places, not neccessarily in the order that one would have to deal with the questions if one were doing a valuation. The result is that this book is less easy to use as a practical guidebook than it could be, and will keep one busy in the index looking for where subjects are addressed.

This is nit-picking however. Professor Damodoran is to be congratulated for producing such a high quality and comprehensive text on valuation.

Extremely Valuable Resource!
This is one of the very best books I have used while working on an MBA. It will occupy a prominent place on my business resources bookshelf. What makes it so special is that it covers the field of investment valuation very broadly, but each topic is handled concisely and with clarity. The author also supplies a healthy amount of context and supporting information as well as the technical matters around valuation.

Another virtue is that it is laid out very well. If you are interested in a specific topic, for example valuing a company with negative earnings or a private company or even contracts for natural resources, it is easy to look up the specific information and study what is relevant to the task at hand.

Plus the author has a wonderful website with supporting spreadsheets and valuable information on companies that can help a great deal in thinking through the topics raised in the book.

If I could only have two or three books of all those I have used during my work at the University of Michigan Business School, this would be one of the keepers.