Corporate Valuation for Portfolio Investment

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Bob Monks' new book, Corporate valuation for portfolio investment:analyzing assets, earnings, cash flow, stock price, governance andspecial situations, is a massive tome, weighing in at more than 550pages that are really aimed at institutional investors... The book is eminently readable, exhaustively treating thesubject in simple but engaging language, and using practicalexamples wherever possible. It explains the concepts it uses as itintroduces them. It is both ambitious and modest at the same time,covering all aspects of its subject, but disclaiming precision. Itadmits the hazards of 'determining the present value offuture worth' and that, 'despite GAAP and IFRS,financial reports remain only dim mirrors of company value',stressing other factors 'such as qualitative measures ofcorporate governance.' Getting to the IR heart, the book claims 'valuation beginsfrom the hour a company's leaders find equity investors whobelieve so strongly in the company's economic prospects thatthey are willing to provide capital for it with no stringsattached. This belief in a company's future - this hope- is what makes the value of the stock something more thanthe current value of its assets if valued in a firesale.' Of course the book does, at length, consider the different waysto assess the qualitative aspects of a company's value, butit also expands on that 'hope' that, ultimately, is theadded value of good investor relations beyond sending out thespreadsheets. It is in that qualitative space where an effectiveIRO can tease out and illustrate the factors that are notsusceptible to number crunching. Although the book is officially aimed at fund managers, theauthors do express the hope that others will find it interestingand of value. And they should. Its combination of penetratinginsights that are sharply expressed and carefully built-upreasoning make it not only an amazingly readable work on one of thedrier branches of the dismal science of corporate valuation, butalso eminently well suited to analysts, IROs and others who want arefreshing and provocative look at their subject." -- Ian Williams, Inside Investor Relations, December 3,2010