Flagship finance case
Most valuations bury their assumptions. This one wears them on the outside; live inputs, WACC build, scenario logic, and integrity checks all visible in the same workbook. The current example is Apple, but the structure is built to swap.
Interactive model — live in your browser
Pick a scenario or drag any slider. The implied share price recomputes instantly from a 5-year EBIT-based DCF using year-by-year inputs from the Model Inputs worksheet. The full workbook is in § IV below.
Why I built it
The point was to prove I can take a vague valuation question and turn it into a workbook a stranger could pick up, follow, and disagree with productively. Price targets are cheap. Defensible structure is not.
This page is the explanation layer. The workbook does the analytical work; the page lets a hiring manager, operator, or finance reviewer get the gist before they crack open Excel, or skip Excel entirely if all they wanted was the logic.
What's in the box
Companion Memo
The model is the artifact, but the memo is what explains how I think about it: why I built it, how the scenarios were framed, and where I see the boundaries between a solid base-case tool and a fully mature valuation system.
Thesis Framing
A major part of my MBA experience has been learning valuation from the perspective of actionable finance: not just how formulas work, but how they support real decisions. My view is that firms gain the most strategic advantage when quantitative conclusions and experienced business judgment are used together. The math gives structure. The business lens gives meaning.
As my MBA has moved toward its conclusion, I wanted to understand the full mixture required to build the analytical foundation for enterprise valuation, then apply that knowledge in a way that could eventually support merger-and-acquisition style thinking. This workbook was part work study, part proof of discipline, and part attempt to build a reusable finance asset from first principles.
Assumption Logic
The model uses three scenario paths: Bear, Base, and Bull. The Bear case assumes 3% revenue growth, which I anchored to a long-run inflation-like baseline. If a company does not materially expand, a reasonable floor is that revenue may still track the general price level over time.
The Base case assumes 8% growth. My reasoning there is intentionally conservative: roughly five points above inflation, with enough room for positive operating performance without forcing heroic execution assumptions. The Bull case moves to 13%, which is still below the more aggressive 15% to 20% range that bullish models often drift toward. I wanted the optimistic case to remain ambitious without becoming careless.
Model Boundaries
This is not a comprehensive end-state valuation platform. It does not yet pull every 10-K line item in a way that automatically produces the broader ratio layer I would want for a full analytical stack, including deeper EBIT, PBT, PAT, quick, and liquidity comparisons. What it does do well is stand on its own as a conservative base-case DCF that can be incorporated into larger frameworks later.
I built manual overrides into the workbook because valuation needs to adapt to the specific cost structures and operating realities of different industries. That flexibility matters. At the same time, I designed the model to be cautious rather than speculative, which is why warning signals appear when values push outside safer ranges. The main conclusion I take from the project is that valuation only becomes useful when ratios, assumptions, controls, and judgment are made to work together clearly enough for someone else to inspect the logic.
Interactive Model
This is the live version of the model. Pick a scenario, push on any assumption, and watch the valuation, the forecast, the sensitivity grid, and the integrity checks recompute in real time. The Excel workbook stays available as the full source artifact; nothing here needs it to run.
Implied value per share
$0.00Market price $0.00
| Line ($) | Revenue | Growth | EBIT | Tax | NOPAT | D&A | CapEx | Δ NWC | FCF | DF | PV FCF |
|---|
| Check | Observed | Status |
|---|
Workbook Architecture
The workbook is structured so 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.
Workbook orientation, usage steps, and tab map.
Main valuation output with implied share price, enterprise value, and market bridge.
Forecast controls, manual overrides, terminal logic, and working-capital assumptions.
Risk-free rate, beta, ERP, capital structure, and discount-rate build.
Support schedule for operating working-capital logic.
Historical balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow data.
Anchoring history used to support projections.
Integrity tests for key inputs, relationships, and output sanity.
Refresh diagnostics and visibility into where key inputs came from.
Live pulls for market data, treasury rates, tax rate, shares, and related fields.
Workbook plumbing for the live query layer.
What's next for this case
The structure is solid: a real workbook, a public page, and enough explanation to follow the logic. Next round, I'm deepening the memo; thesis framing, the case for and against each scenario, and the specific things that would actually change my mind about the number.