Customer Reviews

Corporate Finance: A Valuation Approach

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
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This book serves as an excellent introduction to and/or refresher on valuation techniques. The entire valuation process (primarily DCF) is broken down into a series of steps, each of which gets its own complete chapter. Each chapter is well written and builds on its predecessors.

A particular strength of the book is the authors' reference to Excel functions and which ones are useful in valuation models. This book is not just theory; there are concrete "how to" examples throughout. Once you've finished this book, you can do more than cite valuation theory: you can build valuation models.

One of the best finance books I've ever read.

This is one of the best practical corporate finance books you can find. It serves especially well as a bridge between introductory finance and more advanced topics. The authors did an excellent job at hammering some most important concepts into readers' heads while avoiding too much theoretical complications that hinter understanding. The step-by-step valuation method is especially valuable. The use of the spreadsheet is enormously helpful for students of finance. Highly recommended! I hope Professor Benninga and Professor Sarig can keep producing this kind of hands-on, clear guide to finance. (and maybe a series of books at different difficulty levels)

This book gives an excellent overview of different valuation techniques, is detailed enough yet easy to understand. As such this text is ideal for self-study. It's by far the best book I've seen on the topic and application of valuations and financial modeling.

Simon Benninga's and Oded Sarig's "Corporate Finance: A Valuation Approach" (CFaVA) is one of those secret texts that true insiders cherish while other less efficient or significant works capture limelight.

"CFaVA" is comparable to the McKinsey group authors Koller, Goedhart, Wessels's "Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies" and also Aswath Damodaran's "Investment Valuation: Tools and Techniques for Determining the Value of Any Asset" [Full disclosure: I've taught graduate Corporate Valuation with both texts].

Benninga and Sarig's work is excellent because it is lean while not oversimplified. The key chapter of estimating discount rates is the finest one-chapter treatment of the subject I've seen in my career, and should be required reading for any M&A or LBO banker or PE associate. The chapter on valuing by multiples is also useful for relative value and comparative scenarios for deal-makers.

Chapter 12 covers convertible securities, and it would be unfair to say it is bad simply because it is compressed and incomplete (entire libraries have been written on the subject of convertible bond valuation), but also appears out of place in the content of the book until you realize that the random elements of a stock price going forward in time intersect with capital structure choices and enterprise value, so the connection and recursive element of valuation is made at once explicit with an example.

An excellent book that should be well known by a wider audience.

If you are new to corporate finance valuation this book will take you to the next level. Provides step by step instruction on how to value companies. Covers Excel techniques with easy to follow examples. Covers 1 full semester at most business schools.

This book offers a very simple introduction to evaluation of companies prior to investing. The DCF method is primarily used. There is a common thread running through the chapters which makes the book easy to understand. Its not verbose, which adds to its attractiveness. But, the readers should remember that this is only an introduction, and some other advanced book like Copeland's is needed to build upon the ideas presented in the book.

This is an excellent book for those looking to quickly learn the essentials of valuation. It is particularly useful when combined with the Excel spreadsheets that can be downloaded from the author's web site (although additional cases/examples from this site would be appreciated). The book is well structured, and is a good base from which to move on to more advanced work.

This book does a good job of logically explaining the step-by-step method of corporate valuation. Benninga and Sarig do a good job of focusing on the practical tools of finance. I only wish the DCF examples were less simplistic. A substantial amount of additional work is needed to apply these models to real world firms.

As someone who is just beginning in the field of corporate finance and M&A work I must say that, without a doubt, Corporate Finance: A Valuation Approach has given me the edge I needed in taking on models and running with them. My performance has improved dramatically. Most books on the topic of corp. fin. and valuation, while sound theoretically, lack true applicability. This book is exactly what I've been looking for and I strongly recommend it to those who work regularly with financial models.

This is a very good book for starters in Corporate Finance. People interested in understanding company valuations should definitely read this. Nevertheless, do take the contents with a certain grain of salt. Finance is a very subjective field, and numbers are ALWAYS subject to interpretation. Experts in the field might find themselves not agreeing with some of the methods employed. Finally, readers should have a good background in Accounting. It is also recommended that you have a computer running MS Excel and that you are familiar with the program.