Question 1

Who is the target reader of ‘The Company Valuation Playbook’

Accepted Answer

The book is relevant to anyone that wants to value a company and its shares. This may, for instance, be to form an investment decision or to provide investment advice. It was written to help others avoid the frustration the author, Charles Sunnucks, faced when trying to get easily understandable answers on this topic.
The book covers both public and private market equity valuation, plus fleshes out how to identify potential targets and avoid behavioural biases. Understanding what drives a company’s value is a fascinating journey and will likely entirely re-shape how you look at a company.

Question 2

Who is the target reader of ‘The Company Valuation Playbook’

Accepted Answer

The book is relevant to anyone that wants to value a company and its shares. This may, for instance, be to form an investment decision or to provide investment advice. It was written to help others avoid the frustration the author, Charles Sunnucks, faced when trying to get easily understandable answers on this topic.
The book covers both public and private market equity valuation, plus fleshes out how to identify potential targets and avoid behavioural biases. Understanding what drives a company’s value is a fascinating journey and will likely entirely re-shape how you look at a company.

Question 3

Who is the target reader of ‘The Company Valuation Playbook’

Accepted Answer

The book is relevant to anyone that wants to value a company and its shares. This may, for instance, be to form an investment decision or to provide investment advice. It was written to help others avoid the frustration the author, Charles Sunnucks, faced when trying to get easily understandable answers on this topic.
The book covers both public and private market equity valuation, plus fleshes out how to identify potential targets and avoid behavioural biases. Understanding what drives a company’s value is a fascinating journey and will likely entirely re-shape how you look at a company.

Question 4

What is the focus of the book?

Accepted Answer

The Company Valuation Playbook does not focus on fast trading or new-fangled theories. Rather, it introduces you to the simple industry-standard tools used by professionals globally to value companies and their shares. These tools are relevant to all companies, and they range in complexity from those requiring only a pen, paper and calculator right through to the development of a comprehensive Excel discounted cash flow output.
While some concepts may appear complicated at first, you only need some basic maths knowledge and a bit of common sense to work through them. As Warren Buffett eloquently put it, “Investing success doesn’t correlate with IQ after you’re above a score of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, then what you need is the temperament to control urges that get others into trouble.”

Question 5

How long does it take to value a company and its shares?

Accepted Answer

Typically, 5 minutes to 5 days for publicly listed companies. Some professionals will commit far longer, especially if the company is private and information not readily available.
Timing will come down to experience, how well you know the company, the type of company, and how accurate you want to be.
At its simplest, you can just jump onto a free finance platform such as Google or Yahoo finance, and make a rough determination based on its valuation ratio’s relative to its peer group. This is a very clunky means of valuing a company, and further diligence is advised, however it is a fast approach if time is constraint.
At the other end of the spectrum, is intrinsic valuation. This typically involves a financial model and a discounted cash flow output. It is a far more academically pleasing form of valuation, helps avoid some of the errors common to relative valuation, and is often applied by industry professionals. Importantly, it helps frame a company’s value in terms of its longer-term outlook. Intrinsic valuation can be done within a week, but some analysts will prefer to gradually get to know a company and its management, track its progress, and develop a valuation opinion over months or even years.

Question 6

What is the focus of the book?

Accepted Answer

The Company Valuation Playbook does not focus on fast trading or new-fangled theories. Rather, it introduces you to the simple industry-standard tools used by professionals globally to value companies and their shares. These tools are relevant to all companies, and they range in complexity from those requiring only a pen, paper and calculator right through to the development of a comprehensive Excel discounted cash flow output.
While some concepts may appear complicated at first, you only need some basic maths knowledge and a bit of common sense to work through them. As Warren Buffett eloquently put it, “Investing success doesn’t correlate with IQ after you’re above a score of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, then what you need is the temperament to control urges that get others into trouble.”

Question 7

What is the focus of the book?

Accepted Answer

The Company Valuation Playbook does not focus on fast trading or new-fangled theories. Rather, it introduces you to the simple industry-standard tools used by professionals globally to value companies and their shares. These tools are relevant to all companies, and they range in complexity from those requiring only a pen, paper and calculator right through to the development of a comprehensive Excel discounted cash flow output.
While some concepts may appear complicated at first, you only need some basic maths knowledge and a bit of common sense to work through them. As Warren Buffett eloquently put it, “Investing success doesn’t correlate with IQ after you’re above a score of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, then what you need is the temperament to control urges that get others into trouble.”

Question 8

Do I need to have prior financial experience to read this book?

Accepted Answer

No prior experience required.  The book makes no assumptions about your financial literacy and takes a step-by-step explanation approach to each topic. This includes detailing key accounting standards, and how to interpret financial statements.

Question 9

What do I need to value a company?

Accepted Answer

In theory, you only need a pen, paper and calculator, in practice, the use of the internet and an excel spreadsheet makes life infinitely easier.
Free websites such as Yahoo Finance or Google Finance do a great job at aggregating data and providing financial ratio outputs to use as the basis of a rough relative valuation. Other key sources of information include going direct to a firm’s financial filings and if available, an investor presentation.
For those wanting to dig deeper, and develop a financial model, excel allows you to create a ‘live’ document that can be easily updated as new information becomes available. While excel documents and formulas might feel daunting, there is a quick learning curve to get your head around the basics.

Question 10

Do I need to have prior financial experience to read this book?

Accepted Answer

No prior experience required.  The book makes no assumptions about your financial literacy and takes a step-by-step explanation approach to each topic. This includes detailing key accounting standards, and how to interpret financial statements.

Question 11

Do I need to have prior financial experience to read this book?

Accepted Answer

No prior experience required.  The book makes no assumptions about your financial literacy and takes a step-by-step explanation approach to each topic. This includes detailing key accounting standards, and how to interpret financial statements.

Question 12

Does ‘The Company Valuation Playbook’ follow the CFA syllabus?

Accepted Answer

The author of The Company Valuation Playbook, Charles Sunnucks, took and passed all of the CFA exams, so the content is certainly influenced by the CFA curriculum. The book however focuses on equity valuation, while the CFA exams also cover debt and derivatives in detail.
A further difference is that the book is far more focused on being a practical guide, while the exams are largely ‘taught-to-test’. For those considering or taking the CFA, the book will nonetheless be highly helpful, breaking down complex topics with examples and diagrams.

Question 13

Why value a company?

Accepted Answer

For most people and organisations, the answer will be to make an investment decision or provide investment advice. This can be highly profitable and range from an individual buying a share in a company, to one firm acquiring another. Warren Buffett and George Soros are amongst the many investors that have built substantial fortunes taking a fundamental approach to investment analysis.
Company valuation can also be helpful if you need to audit a person’s wealth, and there is no accessible ‘market price’ at hand, (likely the company is private). This can be important for tax purposes, death settlements and divorce.

Question 14

Does ‘The Company Valuation Playbook’ follow the CFA syllabus?

Accepted Answer

The author of The Company Valuation Playbook, Charles Sunnucks, took and passed all of the CFA exams, so the content is certainly influenced by the CFA curriculum. The book however focuses on equity valuation, while the CFA exams also cover debt and derivatives in detail.
A further difference is that the book is far more focused on being a practical guide, while the exams are largely ‘taught-to-test’. For those considering or taking the CFA, the book will nonetheless be highly helpful, breaking down complex topics with examples and diagrams.

Question 15

Does ‘The Company Valuation Playbook’ follow the CFA syllabus?

Accepted Answer

The author of The Company Valuation Playbook, Charles Sunnucks, took and passed all of the CFA exams, so the content is certainly influenced by the CFA curriculum. The book however focuses on equity valuation, while the CFA exams also cover debt and derivatives in detail.
A further difference is that the book is far more focused on being a practical guide, while the exams are largely ‘taught-to-test’. For those considering or taking the CFA, the book will nonetheless be highly helpful, breaking down complex topics with examples and diagrams.

Question 16

Is the book relevant for those studying finance or undertaking an MBA?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely, and indeed a number of courses globally are already using the book within the curriculum. The book is also used by some financial service firms as a training self-training guide for new recruits.

Question 17

Is the book relevant for those studying finance or undertaking an MBA?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely, and indeed a number of courses globally are already using the book within the curriculum. The book is also used by some financial service firms as a training self-training guide for new recruits.

Question 18

Is the book relevant for those studying finance or undertaking an MBA?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely, and indeed a number of courses globally are already using the book within the curriculum. The book is also used by some financial service firms as a training self-training guide for new recruits.

Question 19

What is the difference between price and value?

Accepted Answer

Warren Buffett famously wrote in a 2008 letter to shareholders ‘price is what you pay, value is what you get’. Notably the two are not the same, and if you can pay a below value price when buying a company’s shares then you can heavily stack the deck in your favour when it comes to investing. This is true of any company, no matter its size, quality, or growth outlook.

Question 20

Does the book cover ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations?"

Accepted Answer

Yes, and indeed while there are many who treat this as a separate discipline, the author is of the belief that ESG risks should be fully incorporated into any thorough fundamental assessment of a company’s worth. Increasingly the externalities – the costs that companies had historically imposed on their physical and social environment – are now increasingly being internalised in response to changes in policy and consumer expectations. Out of sight, is therefore no longer out of mind.

Question 21

Does the book cover ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations?"

Accepted Answer

Yes, and indeed while there are many who treat this as a separate discipline, the author is of the belief that ESG risks should be fully incorporated into any thorough fundamental assessment of a company’s worth. Increasingly the externalities – the costs that companies had historically imposed on their physical and social environment – are now increasingly being internalised in response to changes in policy and consumer expectations. Out of sight, is therefore no longer out of mind.

Question 22

What is the difference between investing and speculating?

Accepted Answer

Definitions vary, but to build-on Warren Buffett’s reflections, investing is when your focus is on the asset itself, while speculating is when your focus is on the price action.
Buffett notes that an investment decision is “one where you look to the asset itself to determine your decision to lay out some money now, to get some more money back later on”. For example, “When I buy a stock, I don’t care if they close the stock market tomorrow for a couple of years because I’m (ultimately) looking to the business—Coca-Cola, or whatever it may be, to produce returns for me in the future from the business”.
The emphasis when ‘speculating’ meanwhile is on the price action rather than the value of the investment itself. For instance, taking a position in a company based on the forecast that its upcoming earnings will be a positive surprise and drive the stock price up. Arguably of course, speculating is nonetheless a form of investment. Warren however draws the distinction that “calling someone who trades actively in the market an investor is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a romantic.”

Question 23

Does the book cover ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations?"

Accepted Answer

Yes, and indeed while there are many who treat this as a separate discipline, the author is of the belief that ESG risks should be fully incorporated into any thorough fundamental assessment of a company’s worth. Increasingly the externalities – the costs that companies had historically imposed on their physical and social environment – are now increasingly being internalised in response to changes in policy and consumer expectations. Out of sight, is therefore no longer out of mind.

Question 24

How many companies should I invest in to be diversified?

Accepted Answer

This has been a field of lively academic debate. The consensus is broadly that the risk reduction benefits of diversification are largely realised at 20-30 holdings. Thereafter, you can achieve additional gains, but these are far more marginal.
Notably, diversification is not simply a number game. If you diversify across 30 companies with very similar risk and return characteristics, that is not nearly as powerful as investing across 30 very different companies. For example, to reduce risk exposure to the oil price, invest in one firm that benefits from a high oil price, and one that would benefit from a low oil price, rather than two oil companies. The return correlation between investments is therefore an important variable in determining the overall risk exposure of a portfolio.

Question 25

What is the difference between the buyside and sell side?

Accepted Answer

The buyside refers to investors - those that buy and sell financial instruments (debt/equity/derivatives). Buyside participants include private equity firms, family offices, hedge funds, and asset managers. The largest buyside firms include Blackrock, Vanguard and Fidelity.
The sell side refers to those that create and promote financial instruments (again, debt/equity/derivatives). The sell side is frequently broken down between M&A advisory, brokers, equity research. The largest sell side firms include Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, (although both also have buyside arms.)

Question 26

What qualifications are there for investment professionals?

Accepted Answer

The most well-known and highly regarded professional qualification for an investor is the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation. It is a brutal set of exams, with three separate levels, each level taking around 300 hours to pass successfully. The CFA institute says that it takes on average a candidate four years to become a licensed CFA.
The CFA designation will be a substantial boost in terms of credibility, however in terms of practical on-the-job knowledge, it is less valuable. The challenge is that the exams are largely multiple choice, and often the curriculum can feel like it is being ‘taught-to-test’ rather than for actual application. Nonetheless, if you are keen to get your ‘foot in the door’ at an investment firm, becoming a candidate for CFA level 1 is an excellent first step. 
Another financial investment certification is the CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designation. CAIA has two sets of exams, and typically takes candidates around 200 hours of study for each level. The content is more interesting; however, it is far less recognised than CFA and is geared more towards non-traditional investment classes. Certifications with a far lighter workload include the FMVA (Financial Modelling Valuation Analysis)) certification, and the IMC (Investment Management Certification). 
None of these certifications come ‘cheap’. CFA level one for example requires a $450 enrolment fee, and $700 for exam registration, (not including study courses etc.). The FMVA certification is the most affordable at $497 for the whole course.

Black Box Thinking

The Greatest Trade - Gregory Zuckerburg

Blue ocean strategy

How the mighty fall and why some Companies never give in – Jim Collins

The liquidity theory of asset prices – Gordon Pepper

The house of Rothschild – Niall Ferguson

Antifrangile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

A short history of financial euphoria – John Kenneth Galbraith

Accounting for Growth - Terry Smith

The Blackswan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

About the author

About the author