Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, 3rd Edition (Hardcover)

~ McKinsey & Company Inc. (Author), (Author), (Author), Jack Murrin (Author) "This book is about how to value companies and use information about valuation to make wiser business decisions..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Hershey Foods, United Kingdom (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Information in the book is clearly presented. A good read which will enable you to approach corporate valuation with confidence." -- Lloyd's List, 4th November 2000

"Information in the book is clearly presented. A good read which will enable you to approach corporate valuation with confidence." (Lloyd's List, 4th November 2000)

Review

"Information in the book is clearly presented. A good read which will enable you to approach corporate valuation with confidence." (Lloyd's List, 4th November 2000)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 5.12 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 3 edition (July 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471361909
• ISBN-13: 978-0471361909
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #227,867 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

243 of 245 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A lot of Fluff with some big names on the cover, May 24, 2001

By	"cued" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This was the text book for an advanced seminar on Valuation that I took in my MBA program, and I have a feeling the professor will not use this text book ever again. The problem is, as another reviewer observed, these McKinsey guys take great care not to reveal any trade secrets in their text. Therefore you will notice that there is an unusual amount of prose, and a conspicuous lack of financial formulae in this text book. Our professor had to prepare supplemental lecture notes chock full of formulae, exercises, and examples because she realized that much of what is really needed to learn Valuation is not covered, but only mentioned or alluded to in this book. For example, everyone accepts that a controlling interest in a firm is worth more than a minority interest in a firm, and Copeland et. al. mention that discounts and premiums may be necessary to accomodate for this situation, but they give no guidance in calculating such premiums. Further, this book is all about discounted cash flow analysis, which is really only one of several valuation methods. No space is given to relative valuation or the interpretation of multiples such as P/E. The authors' reason for shunning relative valuation is flimsy at best (they argue that relative valuation doesn't help you if you are investing in an industry in which ALL firms are over-valued by the Market).

There are two different groups who might be interested in valuation: investors who want to use valuation techniques to make passive investments in public companies, like Warren Buffett; and entrepreneurs / managers who are charged with the job of buying or selling business assets for their firms. To the first group, I recommend the Valuation books of Aswath Damodaran (my favorite is "The Dark Side of Valuation"). Not only is Damodaran's treatment of the subject matter more complete, but he is much clearer in his explanations because he is not afraid to use an occasional formula (the rule of thumb is that for every formula omitted a writer will have to add an additional two pages of prose just to explain the concepts). Plus, readers get access to Damodaran's web page, which is an amazing supplement full of downloadable excel spreadsheets, PDF files, examples, problem sets, etc., all free to purchasers of his books.

To the second group, I recommend the works of Shannon Pratt et. al., especially Valuing a Business, Valuing Intangible Assets, etc. Pratt is a professional Valuation expert, who is often hired by lawyers, accountants, and business owners to appraise businesses, projects, and assets. Pratt's books represent the state of the art, and cover all techniques in encyclopedic fashion. For my MBA class a Valuation expert from a Big 5 firm came to speak to us one day about her work, and much of the techniques she uses are consistent with Pratt's own writing.

The only reason to read this book is as a bathtub refresher book after you have already studied the techniques of valuation and just want to read what someone else has written about the subject. Remember, though, reading a descriptive book about the French language is not the same as learning to speak it yourself!

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent resource for DCF applications, but..., October 12, 1998

By	Paul A. Broni (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

This book provides excellent information about the DCF Valuation process. The reader will learn how to develop the model and where to input the various data, as well as understand how to justify some of the assumptions such as cost of equity. The disk that accompanies the hardcover addition will be very useful to some practitioners, although analysts with strong modeling skills will likely want to create their own spreadsheet. The book, however, is not a comprehensive guide to valuation, as it does not discuss other methods such as the peer group comparison. Nonetheless, it is an excellent reference book on the topic of DCF Valuation, and it belongs on every financial analyst's desk.

52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Superficial and lacking in depth, July 3, 2001

By	Pat Bhatt "baysailor2000" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Third Edition (University Edition) (Paperback)

The first part of the book covers very basic material that may be found anywhere on the Internet or in a beginner's finance text book. This portion will be valuable only to introductory students of the subject.

The second two parts, which deal with actual valuation techniques, are very verbose, but lacking in organization and depth. This half assumes that you are already familiar with concepts such as WACC, Free Cash Flows, and other accounting and valuation terms. Although several valuation techniques are indeed discussed, by no means is the list comprehensive. Furthermore, no systematic approach to deriving or explaining the formulas is available, and often, terms not introduced earlier are used.

On the positive side, however, the book makes easy reading and focuses on a more practical, rather than academic or theoretical, discussion of valuation.

This book may not provide much value to a serious student of valuation. Furthermore, I do not believe it will make an ideal reference for the experienced professional either. At best, it will make a good second reference for a graduate level course in valuation.