Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Stock Valuation

Stock valuation is the method of calculating theoretical values of companies and their stocks. The main use of these methods is to predict future market prices, or more generally potential market prices, and thus to profit from price movement – stocks that are judged undervalued (with respect to their theoretical value) are bought, while stocks that are judged overvalued are sold, in the expectation that undervalued stocks will, on the whole, rise in value, while overvalued stocks will, on the whole, fall.

There are several methods used to value companies and their stocks. They try to give an estimate of their fair value, by using fundamental economic criteria. This theoretical valuation has to be perfected with market criteria, as the final purpose is to determine potential market prices. The most theoretically acceptable stock valuation method, called income valuation or discounted cash flow method, involves discounting the profits (dividends, earnings, cash flows) the stock will bring to the stockholder in the foreseeable future, and a final value on disposition. The discount rate normally has to include arisk premium. Thus, in addition to fundamental economic criteria, market criteria also have to be taken into account market-based valuation. Valuing a stock is not only to estimate its fair value, but also to determine its potential price range, taking into account market behavior aspects. One of the behavioral valuation tools is the stock image, a coefficient that bridges the theoretical fair value and the market price.

Stock Tips is really very helpful  to have a class before starting or try out an application that allows you to do business with imaginary funds. When a stock has a significantly higher growth rate than its peers, it is sometimes assumed that the earnings growth rate will be sustained for a short time (say, 5 years), and then the growth rate will revert to the mean. This is probably the most rigorous approximation that is practical.

No comments:

Post a Comment