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The emails for this class will be collected on this page, arranged chronologically. Since I send quite a few, you can target it on a specific month by going here:
| Date | Email content |
| 1/13/25 | Welcome back! As I checked through the roster, I noticed a lot of familiar names from corporate finance, and you know that the email deluge that awaits you.I am sure that you are finding that break is passing by way too fast, but the semester will soon be upon us and I want to welcome you to the Valuation class. One of the best things about teaching this class is that valuation is always timely (and always fun...) Just as examples: is the chance to cash in on Nvidia passed you by? How much did the Barbie Buzz add to Birkenstock’s value? Is Juan Soto really worth $765 million to the Mets or is Steve Cohen bonkers? How much is Greenland worth? You will find the answers to these and other questions on my blog:
1. Preclass work: I know that some of you are worried about the class but relax! If you can add, subtract, divide and multiply, you are pretty much home free… Seriously, all I need of you is a familiarity with basic finance, accounting and statistics. If you feel shaky, you may want to check out the online classes that I have on accounting and financing basics:
2. For this class: If you want to get a jump on the class, you can go to the class web page:
As the schedule stands right now, we will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1.30 pm - 2.50 pm in KMEC 2-60, starting on January 27. I would love to see all of you in class for every session, but if you have to miss a class or two, because the classes will be recorded and available on three platforms:
When you get a chance, check it out.
3. Syllabus & Calendar: The syllabus for the class is available on the website for the class and is also linked here:
and there is a google calendar for the class that you can get to by clicking on
For those of you already setting up your calendars, it lists when the quizzes will be held and when projects come due.
5. Lecture notes: The first set of lecture notes for the class is ready. You can either print off the slides, or save them online. .
Please download and print only this packet on discounted cashflow valuation. The other two packets (yes, there are three…) will be ready soon.
6. Books for the class: First things first. You don’t need a book to get through the class, and if you are budget-constrained, don’t buy any book. If you decide to buy a book, the best book for the class is the Investment Valuation book - and the fourth edition just came out. To be honest, the book is obscenely over priced, and if you can find a cheaper third edition, it will do. You can get it at Amazon or wait and get it at the book store... If you are the law-abiding type, you can buy "Damodaran on Valuation" - make sure that you are getting the second edition. Or, as a third choice, you can try The Dark Side of Valuation, again the second edition, if you are interested in hard to value companies.. Or if you are budget and time constrained, try "The Little Book of Valuation". Finally, if you really want to take a leap, try my newest book, Narrative and Numbers at
You can get away without any of these books, since much of what is in these books is in the public domain. You will find the webpages for all of the books at http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/public.htm. If you want a comparison of the books, try this link: http://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/New_Home_Page/valbookcomp.html
7. Valuation apps: One final note. I worked with Anant Sundaram (at Dartmouth) isn developing a valuation app for the iPad or iPhone that you can download on the iTunes store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uvalue/id440046276?mt=8
It comes with a money back guarantee... Sorry, no Android version yet…
I am looking forward to seeing you in two weeks in class.
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| 1/20/25 | It’s been a week since my last email, and while not a whole lot has happened, I thought I should check in ahead of next week’s class. First, if this is the first email you are reading, then you should catch up with the earlier one, which are available at the link below:
If you are wondering about the logistics (exams, projects etc.), we will start the first class with the syllabus, which will also lay out the themes for the class:
As you go through the syllabus, you will notice mention of a project and you can find the details of that project here:
Once we are through the syllabus in session 1, we will turn to an introductory packet (of about 20 pages). The link to that package is below:
Please have this ready for the first session. The rest of the class will be covered in the lecture note packets, and I sent you the link to the first one last week (but here it is again):
Having drowned you with all of that stuff, let me hit with you some pre-class reading (and I don’t think it is too painful). I don’t do much academic research and am supremely uninterested in writing for an echo chamber. Much of what I have written that is original or different has be initially (at least) on my blog. I spend the first few weeks of each year, talking about the data that I update on my website:
The first two updates re on my blog. Please browse through them, because they are relevant for class:
The first class will be a week from today (Monday, January 27, from 1.30 pm - 2.50 pm, NY time) in KMEC 2-60, and I cannot tell how happy I am to be teaching in a room other than Paulson. Please do come, if you can. If you are unable to, either because of logistical or health reasons, the class will be carried on Zoom. The Zoom link for all of the classes (all 28 sessions) is below:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/92632007432 |
| 1/26/25 | It’s been about a week since my last email, and while not a whole lot has happened, I thought I should check in ahead of the first session of the class tomorrow. First, if this is the first email you are reading, then you should catch up with the earlier one, which are available at the link below:
If you are wondering about the logistics (exams, projects etc.), we will start the first class with the syllabus, which will also lay out the themes for the class:
As you go through the syllabus, you will notice mention of a project and you can find the details of that project here:
Once we are through the syllabus in session 1, we will turn to an introductory packet (of about 20 pages). The link to that package is below:
Please have this ready for the first session. The rest of the class will be covered in the lecture note packets, and I sent you the link to the first one last week (but here it is again):
Having drowned you with all of that stuff, let me hit with you some pre-class reading (and I don’t think it is too painful). I don’t do much academic research and am supremely uninterested in writing for an echo chamber. Much of what I have written that is original or different has be initially (at least) on my blog. I spend the first few weeks of each year, talking about the data that I update on my website:
The first thee updates re on my blog. Please browse through them, because they are relevant for class:
The first class will be tomorrow (Monday, January 27), from 1.30 pm - 2.50 pm, NY time) in KMEC 2-60. Please do come, if you can. If you are unable to, either because of logistical or health reasons, the class will be carried on Zoom.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/92632007432 |
| 1/27/25 | We are officially rolling. If you enrolled in the class in the last couple of days, you did miss the first two emails but they are already in the email chronicle, in case you are interested:
Email chronicles: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/eqemail.html
This chronicle will be updated at the end of each week to include all emails sent up until then. If you were able to make it today’s class, thank you, and the slides that we used for the class should be at the links below:
Introduction to Valuation (Slides for Wednesday’s class): https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/ValIntroSpr25.pdf
I mentioned the project for the class, but only in very general terms. You can find the specifics at the link below:
A quick note about today's class. During the session, I told you that that this was a class about valuation in all of its many forms – different approaches (intrinsic, relative & contingent claim), different forums (for acquisitions, value enhancement, investing) and across different types of businesses (private & public, small and large, developed & emerging market). After spending some time laying out the script for the class (quizzes, exams, weekly tortures), I suggested that you start thinking about forming a group and picking companies. To get the process rolling, here is what I have done
1. Group: Please do find a group to nurture your valuation creativity, and a company to value soon. If you are ostracized, or feel alone, I will create an orphan list and make sure that you are adopted.
2. Company Choice: Once you pick a company, collect information on the company. I would start off on the company's own website and download the annual report for the most recent year (probably 2019) and then visit the SEC website (http://www.sec.gov) (for US listings) and download 10Q filings. (You can pick any publicly traded company anywhere in the world to value. The non-US company that you value can have ADRs (but does not have to have ADRs) listed in the US but you still have to value it in the local currency and local market. You can even analyze a private company, if you can take responsibility for collecting the information.)
3. Webcast of today’s class: The web casts for the first class are up and running in all of their variations (Zoom recording, downloadable video, downloadable audio and YouTube). You can access them by going to: 4. Lecture Note Packets: Please download the first lecture note packet, when you get a chance. You can either download it as a powerpoint file (though powerpoint bloats file size or as a pdf file)
Powerpoint slides: ://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pptfiles/val3E/valpacket1spr25.pptx (This is a big file, and to add to its pain, Microsoft PC powerpoint does not play well with Microsoft Mac powerpoint. So, you may get scary looking messages such as the file needs to be repaired and updated. Just say yes to both. It seems to be unscathed)
5. Post class test: To review what we did in class today, I prepared a very simple post-class test. I have attached it, with the solution. Give it your best shot.
Sorry (not really, but I think you are supposed to act sorry when you send long emails) about the length of this email, but there will be more to come (I promise!).
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| 1/28/25 | It is time for the valuation of the week, and I had initially planned on making it Nvidia. But after an eventful weekend, I will have to revisit my story and valuation for Nvidia, and I promise it is coming in a future week, sooner rather than later. Instead, I am going to do a valuation that may allow you to answer the question I asked most in market interviews: Is the market in a bubble? Is it overvalued? Given there is so froth in this response, I value the S&P 500 index at regular intervals, and at the start of 2025, after two very strong years for US equities, I valued the S&P 500 index and wrote about in my second data update post for 2025:
I am not going to claim that it is scintillating reading, but I don’t think it is that boring, and I would like you to start with that. In the post, I also share the spreadsheet that contains my valuation:
Please download that spreadsheet, and here is what I would like you to do. In the spreadsheet, there are four levers that drive the index value:
If your response is that you really don’t have a point of view, leave the number as is. When you are done, go to this Google shared spreadsheet, and enter your numbers.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ICGB1xcqQHYsiltPq7c2MNbRkuoJlpadpWoaVWdJoiE/edit?usp=sharing
The last column of the spreadsheet will compute how under or over valued you find the market, and the table to the right will give you the crowd judgment. Clearly, with 500 people in the two valuation classes (undergraduate and MBA), that willl be a big crowd, if you chose to partake, but I have also made this spreadsheet open to the public, and the tribe may multiply. It should take just a few minutes of your time, and I think it will be worth it. |
| 1/29/25 | Today's class started with a test on whether you can detect the direction bias will take, based on who or why a valuation is done. The solutions are posted online on the webcast page for the class. Bringing in the effects of uncertainty and complexity, I argued that these three (bias, uncertainty and complexity) forces are the biggest challenges to good valuation. In fact, they represent the Bermuda Triangle of Valuation, a place where good sense goes to disappear. If you have the time to watch a much, much longer version of this topic, try this:
We then moved on to talk about the three basic approaches to valuation: discounted cash flow valuation, where you estimate the intrinsic value of an asset, relative valuation, where you value an asset based on the pricing of similar assets and option pricing valuation, where you apply option pricing to value businesses. With each approach, we talked about the types of assets that are best priced with that approach and what you need to bring as an analyst/investor to the table. For instance, in our discussion of DCF valuation and how to make it work for you, I suggested that there were two requirements: a long time horizon and the capacity to act as the catalyst for market correction. We will be starting on the first lecture note packet on Monday. So, please have it downloaded and ready to go. |
| 1/30/25 | Each week, I will use the Thursday email to prod, nag and bug you about the project. So, without further ado, here is where you should be this first week:
In doing all of this, you will need data and Stern subscribes to one of the two industry standards: S&P Capital IQ (the other is Factset). As MBAs, you should have access to Capital IQ on the Stern Dashboard, but you need to ask for access, I have attached a pdf file that shows you how.
This is the seventh or eighth email for the class. If you have not been receiving these emails (which means that you are reading this in the chronicles), it is worth noting that I don’t keep an email list for the class. I use the Google groups that Stern creates. In theory, students registered for the class should be on Albert (the NYU official registration/grading site), Brightspace and Google Groups, and the three should be synced, but this is a university. What should be true in theory is not always the case in practice. I can do very little to alter the Google groups. If you are finding yourself locked out of the email list, start with IT, and if they won’t help, I will figure out a way to add you in. If you are a non-Stern student, and have an email address that does not end in@stern.nyu.edu, note that you were assigned a stern email address when you joined this class, and you should be able to find that address. Here is what I got from IT when I asked:
Since you are teaching a Stern course, all your students, exchange and non-Stern, are provided with a Stern account and Gmail.
You can have them all head over to 'start.stern.nyu.edu' to activate their account.
Attachment: Capital IQ Access |
| 1/31/25 | I described valuation as a craft, where just when you think you have got things nailed down, the market throws you a surprise. This week’s big story has been DeepSeek, and while its initial impact has been on market prices, the bigger question is how it will change not just the AI business, but other businesses that interact with it. With the caveat (and I mentioned this to my corporate finance class as well) that I know far less about computed chips than I do potato chips, I decided to put down my novice thoughts about how I see DeepSeek playing out in markets. What started as a short note expanded on my flight from New York to San Diego into a longer note (the nice thing about writing in planes is that you have no distractions, and UnitedWiFi is so crappy that paying money for it is a waste). The post just went up a few minutes ago, typos and all (I would love to claim that I leave the typos in to show that it was not written by my bot)
As I said, I don’t have the answers, but this is my take, and I would love to hear yours. (The post includes an advance look at your valuation of the week, which will be Nvidia)
A few quick notes. The first is that I did put up an in a tools webcast today. It is a very basic webcast on how to read a 10K, using P&G as my example. The links are below:
Downloadable video: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/podcasts/Webcasts/Reading10Knew.mp4
P&G Valuation (excel spreadsheet): http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/PG/P&Gvaluationfixed.xls
It is a very old webcast,and I need to do a newer version, but I am way too lazy.
Second, for those of you who have already valued the S&P 500 (the first valuation of the week), thank you! For those of you who have been putting it off, there is still time to add your input to the crowd:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ICGB1xcqQHYsiltPq7c2MNbRkuoJlpadpWoaVWdJoiE/edit?usp=sharing
If you scroll to the right, and towards the top, you will see the average and median values that the crowd has estimated. When you value a company or a market index, it is good to disagree with other people’s stories, as long as you are willing to replace them with your own. My Tesla post in January 2023 evoked a lot of responses and I wrote a post about disagreements that make sense and disagreements that violate first principles:
For those of you who are late to this party, we have run out of beer and chips, but you can read all of the emails that I have sent so far in the class:
Finally, I know that some of you are having trouble finding groups for the project work, there does seem to be a critical mass (four people) on the groupless sheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ilonvo5nKx8MFLpRw_PuwFdzGzrr-S5jvldVMkUAz4Q/edit?usp=sharing) Why not create a group of your own?
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| 2/1/25 | Hi,
I hope that you are enjoying your first weekend back at school. I will intrude with a couple of notes.
1. Teaching Fellows/Review sessions: Just a reminder about the TAs for this class. There are two:
5. Lecture note packet 1: Finally, we will be starting with the first lecture note packet in class on Monday. Please have it with you for class. The pdf version can be found here:
Have a great weekend!
Attachment: Issue 1 (February 1) |
| 2/2/25 | No email. (I blame United's crappy wifi) |
| 2/3/25 | Today's class started with a look at a major investment banking valuation of a target company in an acquisition and why having a big name on a valuation does not always mean that a valuation follows first principles, with the first principle being consistency, where your cash flows match up to your discount rates. We began our intrinsic value discussion by talking about the weapons of mass distraction. If you want to read the blog post I have on the topic, try this link:
https://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2014/03/if-it-is-strategic-growth-investment-in.html This post is dated, and the India story seems to have displaced the China story, and Sustainability, AI and the Metaverse have entered the conversation. The more things change, the more they stay the same!
After setting the table for the key inputs that drive value - cash flows, growth, risk, we looked at the different ways of approaching valuation (Dividend Discount model, FCFE model, firm valuation) and the roots that they share, and how they result in different estimation processes. Next session, we will continue with a discussion of risk free rate, a foundational number that will drive the rest of our calculations. I have attached a post class test for today, with the solution. |
| 2/4/25 | In this week’s valuation of the week, I am focusing on Nvidia, a company that I have the most selfish of reasons to value, which is that I have owned shares in it since 2018, and have been a beneficiary of the AI boom. I would start with this post from 2023, just as the AI boom was taking form, where I grappled with the AI market, as seen then.
I would then move on to my 2024 post on the Nvidia valuation, where I try to value the AI story, and explain why, even though I found Nvidia to be overvalued,, after a bad earnings report:
You can follow this up with the post that I did on DeepSeek at the end of last week, where I look at how DeepSeek changes the AI story, and by extension the valuation of Nvidia:
In the context of that post, I revalued Nvidia, and my updated valuation of the company is at the link below:
Here is what I want you to focus on. There are many pieces to the Nvidia story, but I would like you to look at four of them:
1. AI chip market size: In my January 2025 valuation, I reassessed my total market size for AI chips to be $300 billion (down from $500 billion), because of how I see DeepSeek affecting the end game for AI. You are welcome to disagree, from believing that DeepSeek will devastate the AI market profitability (which will make the market for AI chips even smaller), that it will have no effect (leave the market at $500 billion) or even that it makes the market bigger (with a market size greater than $500 billion)
2. Nvidia Market Share of Chip Market: Nvidia currently has an 80% market share of the market, and over time, while competition will increase, it will remain a dominant player (with a 60% market share). You may believe that this assumption is too optimistic (giving them a share less than 60%) or too pessimistic (share >60%)
3. Nvidia’s operating margin: Nvidia has nosebleed profit margin - close to 80% gross margins and 70% operating margins. I have assumed that there are three forces that will bring margins down - increased competition, attempts by TSMC to claim a larger share o the spoils and pushback from its four biggest customers (all big tech companies), but that the target margin will stay at 60%, since it is a design company.
4. Nvidia’s cost of capital: I use Nvidia’s characteristics on risk, debt mix and operating risk to arrive at a starting cost of capital of 11.79%, which I scaled down over time to a median cost of capital for US companies, You may be more optimistic than me about operating risk, and given them the median cost of capital (close to 8.5%) today.
Change what you feel comfortable changing, using my spreadsheet, and then report your estimated value in the Google shared spreadsheet below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KgHLfJ-fkGMIA05UOQemoSAhZyD3MwhDfDQDFeQgMlY/edit?usp=sharing
That’s about it. |
| 2/5/25 | We started the class with a discussion of structuring a DCF and the different groupings of risk, and why some types of risk matter more than others, before moving on torisk free rates, exploring why risk free rates vary across currencies and what to do about really low or negative risk free rates. The blog post below captures my thoughts on negative risk free rates:
If you want to see my updated perspective on risk free rates, try my blog post from this year, built around the inflation question is here:
I know that the notion that the Fed sets interest rates runs deep, and that you will be able find ways of explaining away contrary evidence, if you feel strongly enough, but I would encourage you to keep an open mind on this question,. Way too much money and resources have been wasted because of the Fed obsession over the last decade to not fight back. Finally, I am included the latest sovereign ratings from Moody;’s and the sovereign CDS spreads
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| 2/6/25 | By now, you should have a company picked, and if so, you can start thinking about at least the first two pieces of your discount rate calculation, a risk free rate and an equity risk premium.
Finally, if you are still groupless, reach out to me, I am putting a call out for groups that want one or two more people in the group. That’s about it for the moment. Enjoy the weekend,
Attachment: Not needed (fixed in notes) |
| 2/7/25 | It is Friday, andI have put up the webcast for risk free rates on the webpage for the class.
Risk free Rates
Webcast: https://youtu.be/imfy-O9QuVc
Additional material:
These sovereign CDS spreads and ratings are stale, and if you want updated versions, you can find them linked below (they were also attached to your Wednesday email)
Sovereign Ratings: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/datasets/sovrrating2025.xlsx
Sovereign CDS Spreads: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/datasets/sovrCDS2024.xlsx
It will of course make more sense, if you have picked a company and have a currency to work with, but that is a nag for a different days II hope that you get a chance to watch the webcast! Finally, I forgot to send you the first weekly challenge on Wednesday. It is the weekly challenge that tests you on valuation consistency, and it is entirely optional. If you choose to do it, the solution will be available online and you can check it. There is no need to submit it back to me.
Attachment: Weekly challenge #1 |
| 2/8/25 | 1. It is time for some news (not really), but this is the second newsletter for the class.
2. Company choice & groups: I was checking the valuation master sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11M36DZLLT4NRdYI-K5wlniQA5HYn5scbxp_uWkikY9E/edit?usp=sharing
I notice that we are moving in the right direction, but it you have not picked a company, please do. If you have already and have just not entered the company name (not symbol), please do that.
3. My data update posts: I have a verbosity problem, and my data update are long and often boring (not my intent, but it happens..) I did post my sixth data update for 2025, and if you want to get a quick review of both my corporate finance and valuation classes, the posts contain that review, with update data. My sixth update is particularly relevant to what we will be talking about in the class for the next two weeks, and if you can find the time (especially if Superbowl ads are boring) to read it, it would help:
Attachment: Issue 2 (February 8) |
| 2/9/25 | I hope that you are getting ready for a Super Bowl party, but as you watch the game, you may want to think about valuation questions. For instance, how much would you pay, if you were a network, for the rights to carry the Super Bowl in perpetuity? (Think of the questions you have to address to do this valuation, starting with whether the football can outlast its CTE challenge and continuing on to whether technology will allow watchers to completely bypass ads…) And if you are a company built around subscribers, say Amazon Prime or Netflix, would you outbid the ad-driven networks because you will use the Super Bowl to sign up new subscribers? Now that I have sowed those seeds that may prevent you from watch Patrick Mahomes throw the ball with his left hand while lying on his back (how does he do that?), two quick loose ends to tie up.
Attachments: |
| 2/10/25 | In the session today, we started by doing a brief test on equity risk premiums. We then completed our discussion of risk free rates, and how the power of central banks comes from the perception that they have power, before embarking on an assessment of historical equity risk premiums, and why they are not good predictors of future equity risk premiums, before embarking on a discussion of country risk and how to deal with it, and measure it. If you are still confused about the different approaches to computing country risk premium, I hope this picture helps: (Sorry.. The picture would not come through)
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| 2/11/25 | For this week, I thought I would switch gears and value a very different company from the last few. I look at Aramco, a company that became the most valuable public company (in terms of market cap) over night, when it had its IPO in 2019. The place to start this valuation is with the Aramco IPO, a document written by bankers for bankers, and hence thoroughly boring:
You can follow up with two posts that I wrote at the time of the IPO:
Those posts include my valuation of Aramco, putting its value at about $1.6 trillion, roughly where it went public.
Clearly, much water has passed under this bridge in the last two years, and I have the updated numbers for Aramco through 2025 at the link below;
I have updated my Aramco valuation to reflect these updated numbers.:
As you look at the what if questions, I would like you to focus on just two variables (my advice is you leave the rest alone):
These inputs can change to reflect what you think will happen to fossil fuels or the earth. If you believe that fossil fuel usage can be cut sharply, you can set the growth rate to a negative number and the number of years to less than 50. In short, this is about as pure a play as you can get on fossil fuels as you can get.
In short, this is a valuation where the differences we have are really about country/political risk and fossil fuels, not the company. if you feel up to it, please do go enter your updated valuations for Aramco, with the updated market cap of just over two trillion into the Google shared spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18izNwqeYOEzTUs8KlO6nXqdYpkp8LDiXRecOLNqNExw/edit?usp=sharing
Good luck and have fun!
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| 2/12/25 | In today’s class, we started by firs trying up how to estimate the equity risk premium for a company, arguing for measuring exposure based on where a company operates, not where it is incorporated. I did mention the paper that I wrote on the trip to Brazil 20 years on measuring lambda. If you are interested, the link is here:
We then looked at implied equity risk premiums, why they move over time and how they are related to the prices of risk in other risky asset classes (bond and real estate).
One final note. There is no class next Monday. Also, today is Wednesday and I have the weekly challenge for this week attached, and if you found the discussion of implied equity risk premiums and their relationships with other macro numbers interesting, you may find this challenge worthwhile.
I know I ask a lot of you in this class, and I also understand that you have lives to live and other demands on your time. To help you navigate the time demands of this class, I thought I would lay out priorities for you that reflect your time constraints (if you are in my corporate finance class as well, this will look similar):
Busy, Multiple constraints on time including health, family etc.
Time available: <3 hours a week
1. Do post-class tests (10-15 minutes for each class)
2. Review lecture notes for the session (20-30 minutes for each class)
3. Bare minimum on project company valuation (30 minutes/week) & full-fledged catching up (2 hours every three weeks)
4. In quiz week, work through at least three or four past quizzes (2018-2022) (3 hours every three or four weeks)
Busy, Significant constraints on time
Time available: 3-6 hours a week
1. Do post-class tests (10-15 minutes for each class)
2. Review lecture notes for the session (20-30 minutes for each class)
3. Watch Valuation Tools video each week (30 minutes/week)
4. Get numbers crunched on project company (1 hour/week)
5. In quiz week, work through at least six to eight past quizzes (2015-2022) (5 hours every three or four weeks)
Busy, but class is key priority
Time available: 6-10 hours a week
1. Do post-class tests (10-15 minutes for each class)
2. Review lecture notes for the session (20-30 minutes for each class)
3. Watch Valuation Tools video each week (30 minutes/week)
4. Get numbers crunched on project company & start narrative (1.5 hour/week)
5. Read and try the weekly challenge, with a time limit (30 minutes/week)
6. Give the valuation of the week a quick try (30 minutes/week)
7. Review practice problems for each section and try two or three in each section (30 minutes/week)
8. In quiz week, work through at least eight to ten past quizzes (2013-2022) (6 hours every three or four weeks)
Obsessed with this class
Time available: As many hours as needed
1. Do post-class tests (10-15 minutes for each class)
2. Review lecture notes for the session (20-30 minutes for each class)
3. Watch Valuation Tools video each week (30 minutes/week)
4. Get numbers crunched on project company & start narrative + help other group members (2.5 hour/week)
5. 5. Read and try the weekly challenge, without a time limit (1 hour/week)
6. Give the valuation of the week a solid try (1 hour/week)
7. Review practice problems for each section and try four or five in each section (1 hour/week)
8. In quiz week, work through all past quizzes (1997-2022) (8 hours every three or four weeks)
9. Read stories in financial press, and craft your corporate finance response to each story (continuous)
Until next Wednesday!
Attachments: Post class test and solution, Implied premium challenge, data |
| 2/13/25 | First things first. By now, I hope that you are in a group and have picked a company. If so, please complete the process by going to the master spreadsheet for the class and input your company name:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11M36DZLLT4NRdYI-K5wlniQA5HYn5scbxp_uWkikY9E/edit?usp=sharing
If you have not, please don’t be surprised if I reach out to you and ask you what’s going on.
At this stage in the class, you should be able to complete three basic tasks related to discount rates, estimating risk free rates, equity risk premiums and betas. Along the way, you have to get comfortable with how to estimate implied equity risk premiums, and to further you on that path, I will be posting valuation tools webcasts on estimating implied equity risk premiums and company exposure to equity risk. I know that the numbers will start mounting up and that some of you are building or are planning to build your own spreadsheets. For your sake and mine, I would push you not to build your own spreadsheet and use mine instead (or do both, to see if you get similar numbers):
It is not because I have good spreadsheet skills. Far from it, since I have never used an Excel macro and use only bare bones functions. It is because this spreadsheet has
I created a video guide last year, on how to use the spreadsheet, and it is at the link below:
I am sorry if my voice sounds ragged, but I had just got off a long flight and my throat has been scratchy for a couple of days.
This spreadsheet is also versatile and will work for any non-financial service company, small or large, US or emerging markets, young growth or in decline. I have used it to value companies that range the spectrum from Uber in 2013, when it was a young start up, to Bed, Bath and Beyond last year. You are welcome to add detail to the spreadsheet, as long as you don’t break it. Thus, for Peloton, you can break revenues down into equipment and subscriptions, and for NVIdia into Ai chips and the rest of the chip business. if you feel that there are different stories for each one that you want to tell. Just add tow rows on to of the valuation output page, and make them the revenues from each segment. In fact, the minute you start using it, it is your model, not mine, and you are welcome to claim ownership of it, if that makes you happy. Finally, my push to get you to use my spreadsheet is also purely selfish . This spreadsheet is easy for me to check, since I know exactly where to look to see how your assumptions are playing out and the mistakes that you might have made at the input stage.
If you have a financial service company (bank, investment bank, insurance company), the spreadsheet above will not work well. Instead, try this spreadsheet:
It is a dividend discount model, but one with enough flex built into it that you can use it to value a growing bank that may not currently be paying dividends. A little later in the class, I will offer you a variant of a free cash flow equity model built just for banks, but for the moment, the dividend discount model will do.
Finally, if you have dropped the class and are still getting emails, I am truly sorry but the fault lies elsewhere. I use the Google group alias emails that the school maintains for each class, and while in theory it should be syncing with the registration page (Albert), it often does not. If you are truly bothered by it, please talk to IT, but you know how conversations with IT usually go, right?
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| 2/14/25 | This week in class, we moved from risk free rates to looking at equity risk premiums and beta. This week, I have added two tools webcasts.
1. Implied Equity Risk Premiums
Webcast: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/podcasts/Webcasts/ImpliedERP.mp4
The supporting materials are below: Presentation: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/ERP/ImpliedERP.ppt Implied ERP spreadsheet (from February 2013): https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/implprem/ERPFeb13.xls S&P on buybacks (from earlier this year): https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/ERP/SP500buyback.pdf S&P 500 Earnings: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/ERP/SP500eps.xls If you are intrigued or curious or even just bored, I have attached the most recent implied ERP calculation from the start of February 2024, and you can try updating it for where the index and rates are now.
2. Company Equity Risk Premium
If you remember, we started this discussion in class by looking at how to measure company risk exposure to country risk, using Embraer, Ambev and Coca Cola, using revenue weights, and then looking at Royal Dutch, where we used oil production weights. In this week’s valuation tool’s webcast, I look at estimating a company’s risk exposure to country risk.
Supporting data: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/datasets/ERP&GDP.xls
Of course, the table you see in this webcast with GDP and ERP is an old one, and you can get the updated version here:
Give it a look, when you get a chance.
Finally, I know that the quiz is not until March 3rd, but just in case you get the urge to start working on these quizzes (you should be able to do problems 1 and 2 on most of the recent quizzes), I have a webcast that I have put together where I take you through the material that will be covered on the quiz. It is about 35 minutes long and it may help you get ready for the quiz (or not)…
The past quizzes are at the links below:
Practice quizzes: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqexams/quiz1.pdf
Practice quiz solutions: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqexams/quiz1sol.xlsx
If the links don’t work, try a different browser. |
| 2/15/25 | Last week, we continued on our discussion of discount rates by looking at how best to estimate the equity risk premium. This coming week, we have only one session on Wednesday and we will look at how best to estimate beta and the cost of capital. Attachments: Issue 3 (February 15) |
| 2/15/25 | As you can see from the heading, this is an email to all my classes, and it is about how to collect data, without getting overwhelmed by it. In particular, I want to focus on, and provide some help on data from three sources: the company itself (annual reports, financial filings), Capital IQ (a database of all publicly traded companies, with immense amounts of accounting and market data on each) and the physical Bloomberg terminals that are in the business school:
1. The Company: About 75% of the information, perhaps more, still come from annual reports and financial filings made by the company and the best source for this information is in the original documents (rather than on online sources, no matter how sophisticated). I usually start by finding the company’s webpage, going to the investor section and finding the most recent annual and quarterly report, as well as the analogous financial filings (10K and 10Q for US companies). Download them in pdf format, because you can then use the search box to search for the data you need in the pdf. (Warning: Do not read the annual report, until you are ready in terms of what data you want from the report)
2. Capital IQ: I have sent you many reminders that you have access to S&P Capital IQ. It is one of the premier global corporate datasets, and given how expensive it is to access, we are lucky to have access at Stern.
If you have not already done so, access Cap IQ, find your company, and it is pretty self-explanatory. I just download into excel the income statement, the balance sheets, the cash flow statement and the segment data, and I replace the default time period (which is the last few years with the maximum period, which can 30 years or more for some companies). You now have all of the historical data that you will need for your company. While you are in Capital IQ, you can also check out the industry grouping that your company is in, screen for other companies like it (by industry group, geography, market cap etc.) and download the data you might need on those companies (I would start with betas, market capitalizations, total debt and cash, but you may need to come back to this list again later in the class). I put together a YouTube video on how to do this, if you are interested:
3. Bloomberg terminal: Find the Bloomberg terminals in the building; for MBAs, there are four on the fourth floor of KMEC, and for undergraduates, there are four in Tisch 316 (accessed through 305). Since these are scarce, and hogging the machines is not a good idea, I thought I would create a guide specifying not only what you need to print off for your company, as well as where to find data on those print outs. I used BP as my company, and the print out should reflect what the pages should look like now for your company:
You will note that there are only six Bloomberg groupings you should print out, ten pages, in all.
HDS: Just the first page
BETA: One page
DES: Five pages
DDIS: One page
CRPR: One page
FA: One page
If you play this right, it should take you 10-15 minutes for your company, and you should do it as soon as you can. I know that this is my second email to you today, but to compensate, I will skip emailing you tomorrow and day after. See.. I am a compassionate person. Attachments: Capital IQ Access, Bloomberg Guide |
| 2/18/25 | As some of you may have undoubtedly read in the news or heard, Starbucks is going through a tough time on multiple dimensions:
1. Corporate Governance/Management: Starbucks is struggling with its corporate governance, cycling through CEOs, with Howard Schultz lurking in the background.
2. Business Model: The story that has brought Starbucks as far as it has seems to have broken down, and there is no easy way back.
3. Politics: For fair or unfair reasons, Starbucks seems to have been caught in the headlights of the politics of the Middle East.
Not surprisingly, the market has turned on the stock, with the stock price about where it was four years ago, though it has recovered from its lows in September 2024.
And to top it all off, the Chestnut Praline latte is no longer in season.
The big question, for Starbucks as a business and for investors in the company, is whether the story is broken and Starbucks is entering into decline, or whether this is a temporary problem that can be fixed by adding new offerings, changing store setup or entering new geographies. I may be wrong, but I think that the Starbucks story is broken, as Howard Schultz’s original story of a cafe culture with customized offerings has run its course, stymied by saturation in its core market (US) and by intense completion in its second largest market (China), and a COVID shift in customer behavior to online ordering that is wreaking havoc on baristas and the cafe model. (Next time, you go into a Starbucks, especially during rush hour, check out how many people are waiting to pick up online orders and how few are actually staying in the store. I wrote about this and two other companies (Walgreens and Intel) that are also facing the aging cliff.
I have updated the valuation that you will see in that post to reflect two additional quarters of data that I have for the company:
Updated 2025 financials for Starbucks: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/Starbucksfinancials2025.xls
Updated 2025 valuation for Starbucks: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/blog/Starbucks2025.xlsx
If you have been intimidated by the companies that we have valued so far because you cannot quite grasp a market (the first valuation of the S&P 500), are not tech savvy (Nvidia) and are not an oil person (Aramco), Starbucks is a good company to started on your voyage of understanding the connection between story and numbers, and one that you can relate to personally. If you try your hand at the Starbucks valuation (using my spreadsheet to construct your valuation, please enter your estimate of value for the company into the shared Google spreadsheet below:
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| 2/19/25 | companies and how to deal with hybrid securities.. If you are interested in getting updated default spreads (on the cheap or free), try this site:
Click on PBR and that link will give you end spreads, they do update the numbers monthly, but seem to do an awfully poor job of making the spreadsheet findable. You can also try the St. Louis FRED and find updated on seven major ratings classes (AAA, AA, A, BBB, BB, B, C and lower) updated daily. Neat, right? You can get the spreads from Bloomberg as well, using the FIW function, and tweaking the choices to show all corporate spreads.
We then started on our discussion of free cashflows, with an examination of the differences between free cash flows to equity and free cash flow to the firm. If you are still confused, I do have a post on free cash flows that I did a couple of years ago that might help:
On the quiz front, please remember that all past quizzes and solutions can be accessed here (please switch browsers if you have trouble with the downloads):
Practice quizzes: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqexams/quiz1.pdf
Practice quiz solutions: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqexams/quiz1sol.xlsx
The review session links are below:
As you get ready for the quiz, I am sure you will have questions, and if you do, please reach out to me or to the TAs. I will have extra office hours next week, and on the Sunday before the quiz. |
| 2/20/25 | I am going to skip the nagging next week, since you have a quiz a week from Monday (March 3), and your time will be better spent preparing for it. Again, remember that understanding something in the abstract in the classroom is very different from being able to do the same thing in practice. Thus, there is no substitute for working through past quizzes, getting stuck (as you will sooner or later), figuring out how to get unstuck and solving problems. Watch the quiz review along the way and don’t forget to test your self too. Here is a rough guideline on how to approach the past quizzes:
There was a problem with the links to the quizzes I sent you in the last email. Here are the correct versions:
Practice quizzes: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqexams/quiz1.pdf
Practice quiz solutions: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqexams/quiz1sol.xlsx
The review session links are below:
My advice on the quizzes is that you start with the most recent quizzes and work backwards, and with time constraints in mind, here is what I would recommendL
On the earlier quizzes, you will notice that I don’t provide an ERP in problems, and that 5.5% shows up in the answer. That is because I expected people to look up the ERP in their lecture notes, and it was roughly 5.5% then, but I have learned my lesson the hard way and provide the ERP in the problem in recent year. Also, some of the earlier quizzes have questions on growth and that will not be part of your first quiz. So, pick your battles wisely and don’t freak out. Incidentally, if you have any trouble with downloads from my webpage, switch browsers and see if it does the trick. |
| 2/21/25 | I know that you have big and fun plans for the weekend (like getting ready for the quiz) and it is my job to ruin them. If you feel the urge to catch up on your project, I am going to give you the capacity to do so by watching the following webcasts:
1. Implied Equity Risk Premiums
Webcast: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/podcasts/Webcasts/ImpliedERP.mp4
The supporting materials are below: Presentation: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/ERP/ImpliedERP.ppt Implied ERP spreadsheet (from February 2013): https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/implprem/ERPFeb13.xls S&P on buybacks (from earlier this year): https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/ERP/SP500buyback.pdf S&P 500 Earnings: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/ERP/SP500eps.xls If you are intrigued or curious or even just bored, I have attached the most recent implied ERP calculation from the start of February 2025, and you can try updating it for where the index and rates are now.
2. Company Equity Risk Premium
If you remember, we started this discussion in class by looking at how to measure company risk exposure to country risk, using Embraer, Ambev and Coca Cola, using revenue weights, and then looking at Royal Dutch, where we used oil production weights. In this week’s valuation tool’s webcast, I look at estimating a company’s risk exposure to country risk.
Supporting data: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/datasets/ERP&GDP.xls
Of course, the table you see in this webcast with GDP and ERP is an old one, and you can get the updated version here:
Give it a look, when you get a chance.
3. Bottom up betas
I use United Technologies to illustrate the process and I go through how to pull up companies from Capital IQ. Even if you don't get a chance to watch it after the quiz, it may perhaps be useful later on. Here are the links:
United Technologies 10K: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/cfovhds/webcasts/Bottomupbeta/UT10K.pdf
Spreadsheet to help compute bottom up beta: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/cfovhds/webcasts/Bottomupbeta/bottomupbeta.xls
The last spreadsheet has built into it the industry averages that I have computed for different sectors in the US in 2015. You can get the updated version from 2024 here:
It uses the US industry average, but you can replace them with the global, European, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Emerging Market beta averages, which are all are on my webpage. Attachments: February 2025 ERP |
| 2/22/25 | Not much news to report this week, since we had only one session, but the class is moving into the hectic zone, when quizzes and your DCFs will come due soon. Newsletter for the week attached. Attachments: Issue 4 (February 22) |
| 2/23/25 | This week in class, we will move at speed, first coasting through what’s left in hurdle rates (cost of debt and capital) and then turning to earnings and cash flows. That subject will start with an examining of earnings (updating, normalizing, clearing up and it will test the weakest links in your accounting knowledge. If you want to get a jump on that material, try this post I have on cash flows (at Microsoft):
In Wednesday’s class, we will move on to tax rates and what should be in cap ex.
During the course of the week, I hope you have a chance to start preparing for the first quiz. I won’t send you the links to the past quizzes and review sessions again (since I have sent them to you a few times already), but I will have extended office hours this week:
In the meantime, please, please do pick a company and get started valuing the company with my spreadsheets:
For non-financial service firms: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/fcffsimpleginzu.xlsx
For financial service firms: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/divginzu.xlsx
Until tomorrow!
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| 2/24/25 | We started today’s class with an assessment of the cost of debt and capital, looking at how best to estimate the former and what weights to use in computing the latter. We continued with a big picture assessment of what goes into free cash flows, and I mentioned a post I had on Microsoft’s FCFF and FCFE:
We ended the class by noting that leases are debt, and while accountants should always treated them as such, they came to their senses in 2019. More to come on Wednesday/
For those of you who are playing catch up on past post class tests and solutions, and on the weekly challenges, you can find them on the webcast page for the class:
In fact, if there is one page you track for this class, this one should be it.
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| 2/25/25 | First things first! The quiz is next Monday in the first 30 minutes of class, and there will be class afterwards. If you signed up with the Moses Center for extra time and/or accommodations, you will be taking your exam at the Moses Center. They have the exam already, and you should be all set. On a different note, today is the day that you get the valuation of the week. Rather than hit with you another company valuation, I thought I would try something lighter.So, let’s have some fun. I have always been a Star Wars fan, and like other fans, I was a little worried when Disney bought Lucas Films (and with it the rights to the Star Wars franchise) for $4 billion a few years ago. Disney was explicit about its plans at the time, and said that it planned to produce three major Star Wars movies, continuing the story, and three side stories (like Rogue One) filling in history. I went to see Force One in December 2015 and wrote this post on my blog about what I thought the value of Star Wars was at the time;
I assigned a value of almost $10 billion to the franchise, with a big chunk coming from the side products (toys, software, apps) coming from the franchise. You can download the spreadsheet that contains the valuation here:
When I wrote the post, Force Awakens had been out in theaters only a few days and I estimated box office revenue of $2 billion for the movie. Rogue One, of course, had not been released yet and I estimated revenues of $1 billion. Force Awakens is now one for the history books, with global revenues of just over $2 billion and Rogue One crossed the $1 billion threshold.
Updated box office for Force Awakens: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars7.htm
Updated box office for Rogue One: http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Rogue-One-A-Star-Wars-Story#tab=summary
In addition, the eighth Star Wars movie has come and gone, with the Last Jedi, as has the next add on movie on Hans Solo:
Updated box office for The Last Jedi: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=starwars8.htm
Updated box office for Solo: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=untitledhansolostarwarsanthologyfilm.htm
The final movie in this trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker came out in 2019. You can get the updated box office numbers for all of these movies here:
In addition, it looks like Star Wars is going to be central to Disney Plus making inroads into the streaming business. The Mandalorian was the most-watched series three years ago on Disney Streaming and has been followed by other series, well watched but very expensive to make. That adds a value stream that did not exist a few years ago. Armed with this additional information, try to reestimate the value of the Star Wars franchise. It may be only tweaks but give it your best shot. And since this is a Star Wars post, might as well end with some good advice from Yoda: Have fun, you must!
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| 2/26/25 | We continued our discussion of earnings and cash flows, starting with an examination of why accountants treat some capital expenses (like R&D) as operating expenses, and what we can do to correct that error We then dealt with some final issues on earnings, including the tax rate to use in computing after-tax cash flows and dealing with money losing companies. In the process, we did look at what to do about accounting fraud, and while the answer is not much, there may be a role for forensic accounting. To be honest, most forensic accounting books are designed for valuation morticians, but here are a couple that you may find useful:
I know that I did not send a weekly challenge last week, but I have added one to this email and it may be worth your time trying it, especially if you are still grappling with capitalizing leases and R&D. We then moved on to examine broad questions about what to include in capital expenditures and working capital. Next session, we will start with a quiz in the first 30 minutes of class, before putting closure on cash flows and starting up on growth rates. Attachments: Post class test and solution |
| 2/27/25 | I seldom get a chance to nag on two fronts at the same time, but this email may do it. We are done with the cost of capital calculation in class, and it is an important part of both your project and the upcoming quiz. While nothing in the calculation is complex, there are so many moving parts, that it is easy to lose sight of the end game. So, if you are preparing for the quiz or working on your project, here are some quick review points:
In doing all of this, the overriding rule in discounted cash flow valuation is to remember to match up your discount rate to your cash flows - in terms of currency, claim holders (cost of equity for cashflows to equity and cost of capital for cash flows to the firm), risk and nominal/real.
As you work through past quizzes, please do try not to check the solutions too soon. Part of what I hope you get out of the practice quizzes is coping mechanisms that you can use when you get stuck, to work through the problem on your own. I am in Portugal for the next couple of days, but will make it back to New York by mid afternoon on Sunday to have office hours from 5 pm - 7 pm that day on zoom. https://nyu.zoom.us/j/99520086506 |
| 2/28/25 | I am probably pushing my luck, since I have taken up so much of your time this week, with preparing for the quiz. If you feel the urge to catch up on your project, I am going to give you the capacity to do so by posting three in-practice webcasts:
1. Trailing 12 month data: If you feel the urge to catch up on your project, I am going to give you the capacity to do so by getting trailing 12-month data on your company:
Webcast: https://youtu.be/3xKK2Baiso0
The most productive use of the webcast is to download the most recent annual and quarterly reports for your company and work with your company’s numbers. You may get lucky, if your company has a calendar year-end and has just reported its fourth quarter 2021 numbers, in which case your most recent 12 months and the most recent fiscal year will match. If you do have access to S&P Capital IQ (gentle nudge to get that access as soon as you can), you can get trailing 12 month numbers. The other plus of Capital IQ is that you can get historical data for your company in any currency you want.
2. Converting leases to debt: I have also posted a second webcast on converting leases to debt which takes you through the process of which numbers to use in this conversion and how to deal with loose ends (like the lump sum that is often given for past 5 years).
3. Converting R&D to capital expenditures: We have net covered how to capitalizet R&D expenses in class yet, but you can get a jump on the process with this webcast. I use Microsoft from a year gone by to illustrate this concept:
How to capitalize R&D: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/podcasts/Webcasts/R&D.mp4
Microsoft 10K 2011: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/R&D/Microsoftlastyear10K.docx
Microsoft 10K 2012: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/webcasts/R&D/Microsoft10K.docx
If you get a chance, please watch one or both of these webcasts.
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| 3/1/25 | First things first. As you know, the first quiz is on Monday in the first 30 minutes of class, from 1.30 pm - 2 pm. There will be class after the quiz. Also, there will be a zoom session on Sunday from 5 pm - 7 pm, and the zoom link is below:
Join URL: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/99520086506 Attachment: Issue 5 (March 1) |
| 3/2/25 | I know that there is some confusion about the quiz ttomorrow and I take the brunt of the responsibility for this development, as some of the rules on the webpage for the class reflect times past, not that long ago, when people bought or printed physical copies of the lecture notes and used abacuses to do calculations. So, at the risk of creating more confusion, here are the final rules (and since I have pope-like status on this front, these override all existing rules and can be amended and altered only by me):
1. Quiz Logistics: The quiz will be in-person in the first 30 minutes of class (1.30 - 2 pm) tomorrow, in 2-60 for everyone in the class. If you have signed up with the Moses Center for additional time or other accommodations, please go to the Moses Center to take your quiz. There will be class after the quiz. So, if you finish early, you can take a quick break but come back for the rest of the class. I will try to make it riveting!
2. Quiz Coverage The quiz will cover everything through cash flows (intro packet + Packet 1 through page 160), but will not include growth. Note that some of the earlier quizzes do have questions about growth that you can ignore for this quiz,
3. Quiz rules: It is open book, open notes, but remember that with only 30 minutes to do the quiz, you cannot afford to be looking for equations or answers to questions in the notes during the quiz. Since many of you have your slides on tablets or on a PC, you can use either device to look at your notes, but you cannot use Excel, Numbers or any other laptop tool in your work. Please bring your calculators (physical or digital) to the quiz with you, and if you have your calculator on your device, you can use it, but just as a calculator.
4. Quiz work: The quiz will be four pages long, with one question on each page, and space below to answer the question. Show your work in that section, rather than on scrap paper,, since I will be grading the quizzes (don’t harass the teaching fellows, since they bear no responsibility) and I give partial credit. Since I want to give you credit for things you know, showing your work in a neat and orderly manner.
5. Missing the Quiz: If you will be missing the quiz, let me know ahead of the quiz. While you may not receive an acknowledgement, I will check after the quiz to make sure that I have heard from you ahead of the quiz, if you missed the quiz. If you do miss the quiz, the 10% will get reallocated over the rest of the exams in the class. So, if you miss quiz 1, your second and third quiz will be worth 12% apiece, and your final will be worth 36%. You will also lose the option of having your worst quiz score replaced by the average.
Finally, if you are having trouble opening the past quiz links, try a different browser. A final reminder that the zoom session will be at 5 pm today, and I will record it. |