Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset, Third Edition

CHAPTER 1

Introduction to Valuation

Every asset, financial as well as real, has a value. The key to successfully investing in and managing these assets lies in understanding not only what the value is, but the sources of the value. Every asset can be valued, but some assets are easier to value than others, and the details of valuation will vary from case to case. Thus, valuing of a real estate property will require different information and follow a different format than valuing a publicly traded stock. What is surprising, however, is not the differences in techniques across assets, but the degree of similarity in the basic principles of valuation. There is uncertainty associated with valuation. Often that uncertainty comes from the asset being valued, though the valuation model may add to that uncertainty.

This chapter lays out a philosophical basis for valuation, together with a discussion of how valuation is or can be used in a variety of frameworks, from portfolio management to corporate finance.

A PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS FOR VALUATION

It was Oscar Wilde who described a cynic as one who “knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.” He could very well have been describing some analysts and many investors, a surprising number of whom subscribe to the “bigger fool” theory of investing, which argues that the value of an asset is irrelevant as long as there is a “bigger fool” around willing to buy the asset from them. While this may provide a basis for some profits, it ...