Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

I spend most of my time in the far less rarefied air of corporate finance and valuation, where businesses try to decide what projects to invest in, and investors attempt to estimate business value. A key tool in both endeavors is a hurdle rate a rate of return that you determine as your required return for business and investment decisions.

Hurdle Rate 72

Hurdle Rate Valuation Corporate Finance Currencies 72

Musings on Markets

AUGUST 15, 2023

In every introductory finance class, you begin with the notion of a risk-free investment, and the rate on that investment becomes the base on which you build, to get to expected returns on risky assets and investments. What is a risk free investment?

Investments 98

Investments Currencies Treasury Hurdle Rate 98

CFO News Room

JANUARY 7, 2023

Data: Trickle to a Flood! It is perhaps a reflection of my age that I remember when getting data to do corporate financial analysis or valuation was a chore. That said, to use mean reversion in analysis or investing, you need to know what these averages are, either over time or across companies, and data can help in that pursuit.

Marketing 130

Marketing Valuation Corporate Finance Financial Analysis 130

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 5, 2024

In pursuit of an answer to that question, I used company-specific data from Value Line, one of the earliest entrants into the investment data business, to compute an industry average. Return on (invested) capital 2. Ratings & Spreads 2. Ratings & Spreads 2. Tax rates 4. Excess Returns on investments 4.

Valuation 105

Valuation Financial Analysis Analyzing Data Profit and Loss 105

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 6, 2023

It is perhaps a reflection of my age that I remember when getting data to do corporate financial analysis or valuation was a chore. That said, to use mean reversion in analysis or investing, you need to know what these averages are, either over time or across companies, and data can help in that pursuit.

Valuation 52

Valuation Corporate Finance Financial Analysis Leverage 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 9, 2021

All of the data that I use in my data analysis is in the public domain, and while I am lucky enough to have access to large (and expensive) databases like Bloomberg and S&P, there are tens of thousands of investors who have similar access. So, why bother?

Valuation 52

Valuation Currencies Numbers Corporate Finance 52

Musings on Markets

JULY 25, 2023

To the extent that divide is not just descriptive, but also drives real world investment, both companies and investors may be misallocating their capital, and I will argue for finer delineations of risk.

Currencies 52

Currencies Hurdle Rate Valuation Marketing 52