Practitioners and some academics use potential dividends rather than actual payments toshareholders for valuing a firm´s equity. We underline the differences between the two methods and present some arguments supporting the thesis that firm valuation with potential dividends overstate the...

In this paper we find restrictions for the value of a parameter used in defining the cost of capital for perpetuities and terminal values: the growth rate for the free cash flow. When defining the growth rate for the free cash flow the usual warning is to set it below the growth of the economy...

This paper is an extension of a previous one untitled The Correct Definition for the Cash Flows to Value a Firm (Free Cash Flow and Cash Flow to Equity) . We have added a comparative analysis between the current practice of including as cash flows amounts that belong to the Balance Sheet and the...

In this short teaching note I explain why we subtract the change in working capital from the proper item (Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) or Net income) in the Income Statement. I show in detail how departing from the sales revenues and the cost of goods sold we have to subtract the...

Practitioners and academics in valuation include changes in liquid assets (potential dividends) in the cash flows. This widespread and wrong practice is inconsistent with basic finance theory. We present economic, theoretical, and empirical arguments to support the thesis. Economic arguments...

In the latest edition of Principles of Corporate Finance (Brealey, Myers and Allen, 2006) the authors use a finite cash flow example to illustrate the valuation procedure for using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method with the free cash flow (FCF) and the Adjusted Present Value (APV). The two...

In theory, different valuation methods, with consistent assumptions, must give identical results. Numerical examples that purport to illustrate the theory should demonstrate the identical results. Unfortunately, in popular textbooks it is all too easy to find numerical examples that are at odds...