Valuation of shares is the process of knowing the value of a company’s shares. Share valuation is done based on quantitative techniques and share value will vary depending on the market demand and supply. The share price of the listed companies which are traded publicly can be known easily. But w.r.t private companies whose shares are not publicly traded, valuation of shares is really important and challenging.
Listed below are some of the instances where the valuation of shares is important:
Sometimes, even publicly traded shares have to be valued because the market quotation may not show the true picture or large blocks of shares are under transfer etc.
There are various reasons for adopting a particular method for share valuation; it generally depends upon the purpose of valuation. Using a combination of methods generally provides a more reliable valuation. Let’s see under each approach what the main reason is:
If a company is a capital-intensive company and invested a large amount in capital assets or if the company has a large volume of capital work in progress then an asset-based approach can be used. This method is also applicable for valuing the shares during amalgamation, absorption or liquidation of companies.
This approach has two different methods namely Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) or Price Earning Capacity (PEC) method. DCF method uses the projection of future cash flows to determine the fair value and if this data is reasonably available, DCF method can be used. PEC method uses historical earnings and if an entity is not in the business for a long time and just started its operations, then this method cannot be applied.
Under this approach, the market value of the shares is considered for valuation. However, this approach is feasible only for listed companies whose share prices can be obtained in the open market. If there are a set of peer companies that are listed and engaged in a similar business, then such a company’s share public prices can also be used.