Flagship finance case

A DCF you can actually argue with.

Live inputs, WACC build, scenario logic, and integrity checks, all visible in one workbook. Apple is the example. The structure swaps.

Try the assumptions. See how the price moves.

Pick a scenario or drag any slider. The implied share price recomputes from a 5-year EBIT-based DCF using the workbook's year-by-year inputs.

The point was never the price target.

The point was to turn a vague valuation question into a workbook a stranger could pick up, follow, and disagree with productively. Defensible structure is rarer than a number.

What this page is for

The workbook does the analytical work. This page is the explanation layer, so a hiring manager, operator, or finance reviewer can get the logic before opening Excel, or skip Excel entirely.

What is in the box

  • A DCF tab showing enterprise value, equity value, and implied share price, not one final number.
  • One control panel for the assumptions worth pushing on: pricing, tax, debt, beta, terminal growth, working capital.
  • A WACC build that walks through cost of capital step by step.
  • Built-in checks that flag when a fallback was used or a number drifted out of range.
  • A reusable template so the next company starts from structure, not from scratch.

The reasoning behind the workbook.

Why I built it, how the scenarios were framed, and where the line sits between a solid base-case tool and a mature valuation system.

Why this model mattered to build

My MBA taught valuation as actionable finance: not just how formulas work, but how they support real decisions. Firms gain the most when quantitative conclusions and business judgment are used together. The math gives structure. The business lens gives meaning.

I wanted to understand the full stack behind enterprise valuation, then apply it in a way that could eventually support M&A-style thinking. This workbook was part study, part proof of discipline, and part reusable finance asset built from first principles.

Why the bear, base, and bull cases are restrained

The Bear case assumes 3% revenue growth, anchored to a long-run inflation-like baseline. If a company does not materially expand, a reasonable floor is that revenue tracks the general price level.

The Base case assumes 8%: roughly five points above inflation, with room for positive operating performance without heroic execution. The Bull case moves to 13%, still below the 15% to 20% range bullish models drift toward. Ambitious, not careless.

Where the workbook stands, and what it is meant to become

This is not an end-state valuation platform. It does not yet pull every 10-K line item into the broader ratio layer I would want for a full analytical stack, including deeper EBIT, PBT, PAT, quick, and liquidity comparisons. What it does well is stand on its own as a conservative base-case DCF that larger frameworks can absorb later.

Manual overrides exist because valuation must adapt to the cost structures of different industries. The model is cautious rather than speculative, which is why warning signals appear when values push outside safer ranges. Valuation only becomes useful when assumptions, controls, and judgment are clear enough for someone else to inspect.

The workbook, running in your browser.

Pick a scenario, push on any assumption, and watch the valuation, forecast, sensitivity grid, and integrity checks recompute. Nothing here needs Excel to run.

Conservative growth, steady margin expansion, restrained terminal value.

Forecast drivers
Cost of capital & structure

Implied value per share

$0.00

Market price $0.00

OVERVALUED 0% vs market
PV of forecast FCFs $0
PV of terminal value $0
Enterprise value $0
Equity value $0
WACC effective 0%

Five-year unlevered free cash flow

Line ($) Revenue Growth EBIT Tax NOPAT D&A CapEx Δ NWC FCF DF PV FCF

Sensitivity: implied price (WACC × terminal growth)

Model checks

FAIL
Check Observed Status
Audit note: The base case fails its own checks on purpose. Cost of debt came back empty from the data query and falls to a zero manual placeholder, and the WACC/g sensitivity grid uses a different net-debt sign than the headline bridge, so its centre will not tie out. The model shows these weak points instead of hiding them.

How the workbook is organized.

A reviewer can move from the headline output to the assumptions, the cost of capital, the source data, and the integrity checks without getting lost.

Outputs

Cover
Workbook orientation, usage steps, and tab map.
DCF
Main valuation output with implied share price, enterprise value, and market bridge.
Model Checks
Integrity tests for key inputs, relationships, and output sanity.

Inputs and build

Model Inputs
Forecast controls, manual overrides, terminal logic, and working-capital assumptions.
WACC
Risk-free rate, beta, ERP, capital structure, and discount-rate build.
Working Capital
Support schedule for operating working-capital logic.

Data and sources

3 Statements
Historical balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow data.
Historical Actuals
Anchoring history used to support projections.
Source Audit
Refresh diagnostics and where each key input came from.
Data Queries and Query Setup
Live pulls for market data, treasury rates, tax rate, and shares, plus the plumbing behind them.

What's next for this case

The memo is the next thing to grow.

Next round, I am deepening the memo: thesis framing, the case for and against each scenario, and the specific things that would change my mind about the number.