Aswath Damodaran
SESSION 3: DISCOUNT RATE
BASICS
THE RISK FREE RATE
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Estimating Inputs: Discount Rates
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Critical ingredient in discounted cashflow valuation. Errors in
estimating the discount rate or mismatching cashflows and
discount rates can lead to serious errors in valuation.
At an intuitive level, the discount rate used should be consistent
with both the riskiness and the type of cashflow being discounted.
Equity versus Firm: If the cash flows being discounted are cash flows to
equity, the appropriate discount rate is a cost of equity. If the cash flows are
cash flows to the firm, the appropriate discount rate is the cost of capital.
Currency: The currency in which the cash flows are estimated should also be
the currency in which the discount rate is estimated.
Nominal versus Real: If the cash flows being discounted are nominal cash
flows (i.e., reflect expected inflation), the discount rate should be nominal
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Cost of Equity
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The cost of equity should be higher for riskier investments and
lower for safer investments
While risk is usually defined in terms of the variance of actual
returns around an expected return, risk and return models in
finance assume that the risk that should be rewarded (and thus
built into the discount rate) in valuation should be the risk
perceived by the marginal investor in the investment
Most risk and return models in finance also assume that the
marginal investor is well diversified, and that the only risk that he
or she perceives in an investment is risk that cannot be
diversified away (I.e, market or non-diversifiable risk)
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The Cost of Equity: Competing
Models
Model Expected Return Inputs Needed
CAPM E(R) = Rf + (Rm- Rf) Riskfree Rate
Beta relative to market portfolio
Market Risk Premium
APM E(R) = Rf + j (Rj- Rf) Riskfree Rate; # of Factors;
Betas relative to each factor
Factor risk premiums
Multi E(R) = Rf + j (Rj- Rf) Riskfree Rate; Macro factors
factor Betas relative to macro factors
Macro economic risk premiums
Proxy E(R) = a + bj Yj Proxies
Regression coefficients
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The CAPM: Cost of Equity
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While the CAPM (and the CAPM beta) has come in for well-justified
criticism over the last four decades (for making unrealistic
assumptions, for having parameters that are tough to estimate and
for not working well), it remains the most-widely used model in
practice.
In the CAPM, the cost of equity is a function of three inputs
Cost of Equity = Riskfree Rate + Equity Beta * (Equity Risk Premium)
In practice,
Government security rates are used as risk free rates
Historical risk premiums are used for the risk premium
Betas are estimated by regressing stock returns against market returns
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A Riskfree Rate
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On a riskfree asset, the actual return is equal to the expected return.
Therefore, there is no variance around the expected return.
For an investment to be riskfree, then, it has to have
1.
2.
No default risk
No reinvestment risk
Time horizon matters: Thus, the riskfree rates in valuation will depend
upon when the cash flow is expected to occur and will vary across
time. If your cash flows stretch out over the long term, your risk free
rate has to be a long term risk free rate.
Not all government securities are riskfree: Some governments face
default risk and the rates on bonds issued by them will not be riskfree.
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Lets start easy
A riskfree rate in US dollars!
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If you are valuing a company in US dollars, you need a US dollar risk free rate.
In practice, we have tended to use US treasury rates as risk free rates, but
that is built on the presumption that the US treasury is default free.
If you accept the premise that the US treasury is default free, you still have several
choices, since the US treasury issues securities with differing maturities (ranging from 3
months to 30 years) as well in real or nominal terms (Inflation protected treasuries (TIPs)
or nominal treasuries)
In valuation, we estimate cash flows forever (or at least for very long time periods) and in
nominal terms. The correct risk free rate to use should therefore be a long term, nominal
rate. The thirty-year treasury bond rate is the longest term rate that you can find and
there is a good case to be made that it should be the risk free rate. However, given how
difficult it is to get the other inputs for the discount rate (default spreads & equity risk
premium) over thirty year periods, you should consider using the ten-year US treasury
bond rate as your risk free rate for US dollar valuations.
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A Riskfree Rate in Euros
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A Riskfree Rate in nominal Reais
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The Brazilian government had 10-year BR$ denominated
bonds outstanding in January 2013, with an interest rate of
9%.
In January 2013, the Brazilian government had a local
currency sovereign rating of Baa2. The typical default
spread (over a default free rate) for Baa2 rated country
bonds in January 2013 was 1.75%. The risk free rate in
nominal reais is therefore:
Riskfree rate in Reais = Nominal 10-year BR$ rate Default spread
= 9% - 1.75% = 7.25%
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Sovereign Default Spreads: Two paths to the same
destination
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And a third Average Default Spreads: January 2013
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Rating
Default spread in basis points
Aaa
Aa1
Aa2
Aa3
A1
A2
A3
Baa1
Baa2
Baa3
Ba1
Ba2
Ba3
B1
B2
B3
Caa1
Caa2
Caa3
0
25
50
70
85
100
115
150
175
200
240
275
325
400
500
600
700
850
1000
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Risk free rates in different currencies: January 2013
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