Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

What is a hurdle rate for a business? In this post, I will start by looking at the role that hurdle rates play in running a business, with the consequences of setting them too high or too low, and then look at the fundamentals that should cause hurdle rates to vary across companies. What is a hurdle rate?

Hurdle Rate 52

Hurdle Rate Currencies Investments Valuation 52

Musings on Markets

AUGUST 19, 2024

If you are concerned that you are going to be hit with a sales pitch for that book, far from it! With more mature companies, as investment opportunities become scarcer, at least relative to available capital, the focus not surprisingly shifts to financing mix, with a lower hurdle rate being the pay off.

Corporate Finance 98

Corporate Finance Valuation Investments Finance 98

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 31, 2024

In my last three posts, I looked at the macro (equity risk premiums, default spreads, risk free rates) and micro (company risk measures) that feed into the expected returns we demand on investments, and argued that these expected returns become hurdle rates for businesses, in the form of costs of equity and capital.

Hurdle Rate 78

Hurdle Rate Profit and Loss Investments Accounting 78

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

Starting with gross margins, and computing the number for all non-financial service firms, we report the distribution of gross margins across publicly traded companies at the start of 2023, again based upon gross income and sales in the most recent twelve months: While the median gross margin across all publicly traded global firms is about 30%.,

Profit and Loss 52

Profit and Loss Investments Hurdle Rate Accounting 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 27, 2021

Both oil and copper dropped during the peak crisis weeks (February 14 through March 23, 2020), but while copper not only recouped its losses and was up almost 26% over the course of the year, oil remains more than 20% below the start-of-the-year numbers. Data Update 4 for 2021: The Hurdle Rate Question.

Currencies 52

Currencies Investments Marketing Treasury 52

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 5, 2024

The numbers that I computed opened my eyes to how much perspective on the high, low, and typical values, i.e., the distribution of margins, helped in valuing the company, and how little information there was available, at least at that time, on this dimension. Aggregate operating numbers 3. Insider, CEO & Institutional holdings 2.

Valuation 100

Valuation Financial Analysis Analyzing Data Profit and Loss 100

CFO News Room

JANUARY 7, 2023

Mean reversion : I am not a knee-jerk believer in mean reversion, but the tendency for numbers to move back towards averages is a strong one. Counter made-up numbers : It remains true that people (analysts, market experts, politicians) often make assertions based upon either incomplete or flawed data, or no data at all.

Marketing 130

Marketing Valuation Corporate Finance Financial Analysis 130