LM 7: Company Analysis: Forecasting Flashcards

1
Q

What are 4 common forecast objects, describe them? DISA

A
  1. drivers of financial statement lines (factors that have strong relationship with performance eg. sales, COGS)
  2. individual financial statement lines (less material line items like depreciation)
  3. summary measures (Forecasting a high-level summary measure (e.g., earnings per share)
  4. ad-hoc objects (items that have not yet appeared on a company’s historical financial statements eg. anticipated write offs)
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2
Q

What are the 4 forecasting approaches? HHMA

A
  1. Historical Results: Assume past is precedent
  2. Historical Base Rates and Convergence
  3. Management Guidance
  4. Analyst’s Discretionary Forecast
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3
Q

Describe Historical Results: Assume past is precedent.

A

Forecasts based on summaries of past performance (e.g., historical mean)

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4
Q

Describe Historical Base Rates and Convergence.

A

This approach is based on the assumption that a forecast object will converge to a base rate (e.g., peer group average) over a sufficiently long time horizon

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5
Q

Describe management guidance.

A

guidance provided by management on key metrics such as revenues and earnings on a macroeconomic level (or company level)

estimates are valued because they are forward-looking rather than backward-looking and assumed that managers have access to better information than outside analysts

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6
Q

What is normalized earnings?

A

company’s expected profit in equilibrium economic conditions with no impact from unusual or temporary factors such as mergers, restructurings, or changes in strategy.

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7
Q

Forecasts of company performance typically begins with a projection of?

A

top line revenue

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8
Q

What are 2 top down approaches to modeling revenue?

A
  1. growth relative to GDP growth
  2. market growth and market share
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9
Q

What does a top down approach begin with?

A

begins with analysis of overall economy

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10
Q

Describe the growth relative to GDP growth top down approaches to modeling revenue?

A

First, the analyst forecasts an expected growth rate for the overall economy in nominal terms. Then, a spread or multiple from that growth rate is applied to estimate a growth rate for an individual company.

eg. company’s revenue could be assumed to grow at a rate of 300 basis points above the nominal GDP growth rate.

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11
Q

Describe the market growth and market share top down approaches to modeling revenue?

A

Analysts begin by forecasting the growth rate in a particular market, such as an industry. Regression analysis can be used to determine if there is a predictable relationship between industry revenues and overall GDP growth. company’s revenues can then be estimated as the product of its current market share and expected industry-level sales.

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12
Q

What does a bottom up approach begin with?

A

begin within the individual company and then arrive at an aggregate amount based on estimates for each business segment, product line, or geographical source.

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13
Q

What are the 4 bottom up approaches to modeling revenue? VPCR

A
  1. volume and average sale price
  2. product line or segment revenues
  3. capacity based measures
  4. returns or yield based measures
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14
Q

Describe volume and average sale price bottom up approach.

A

projected revenues are calculated as the product of expected unit sales and the average price per unit

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15
Q

Describe product-line or segment revenues bottom up approach.

A

approach produces an overall revenue forecast by aggregating forecasts for individual products, business lines, or reporting segments.

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16
Q

Describe capacity based measures bottom up approach.

A

how much a company can potential earn with new stores opening or etc.

approach is often used to model revenues in the retail sector, using measures such as same-store sales growth combined with an assumed level of sales expected to be generated from each newly-opened store.

17
Q

Describe returns or yield based measures bottom up approach.

A

revenue is estimated based on a company’s revenue-generating assets. For example, a bank’s revenues can be projected by applying an expected average yield on its loan portfolio.

18
Q

What items must be taken out when forecasting earnings?

A

Non-recurring items

19
Q

What 4 non-recurring items must be excluded from forecasting earnings? UERD

A
  1. unusual items
  2. extraordinary items
  3. restructuring items
  4. discontinued operations
20
Q

What is gross profit formula?

A

sales - cogs = gross profit

21
Q

What is EBITDA formula?

A

sales - cogs = gross profit

gross profit - SG&A = EBITDA

22
Q

What does SG&A mean?

A

selling, general, and administrative costs

23
Q

What are 3 working capital forecasts?

A
  1. days sales outstanding
  2. inventory days on hand
  3. days payable outstanding
24
Q

What is days sales outstanding formula?

A

accounts receivable/ (sales/365)

average number of days it takes company to collect revenue once a sale has been made

25
Q

What is inventory days on hand formula?

A

inventory / (COGS/ 365)

how many days it takes a business to sell through their stock of inventory.

26
Q

What is days payable outstanding formula?

A

accounts payable / (COGS/365)

indicates the average time (in days) that a company takes to pay its bills and invoices to its trade creditors

27
Q

What are capital expenditures?

A

Capital expenditures are investments in long-term assets.

28
Q

What are the 2 types of maintenance capital expenditures?

A
  1. maintenance capital expenditure
  2. growth capital expenditure
29
Q

Whats the difference between maintenance and growth capital expenditures?

A

Maintenance capital: expenditures are necessary in order for the company to continue the operating at its current level

Growth capital expenditures are investments in assets and projects that allow a company to expand the size and/or scope of it operations.

30
Q

What is scenario analysis?

A

models market conditions that put pressure on a portfolio