Aswath Damodaran

The Portuguese sessions will be in Tomar and will be organized by Arc Business Retreats. I have not been in Portugal in close to 20 years, and I look forward to being back. https://t.co/8ZkH94eX1o

I am biased but I think valuation is a tool that should be in everyone's repertoire, whether you are an entrepreneur, manager, consultant or analyst. I try to maintain a balance between valuation details and big picture all the way through. Hope to see you in person!

I have taught valuation as a semester-long class at NYU for 38 years, but I will deliver a 2-day version, where I try to fit in all of its contents, in-person in Dubai (Dec 1,2) and Singapore (Dec 4,5) in 2024 and in Portugal (Feb 28, March 1) in 2025. https://t.co/nfamizH5gB

As US stocks continued their march upwards in September 2024, the implied equity risk premium for the S&P 500 dropped to 3.94%, bringing the expected return for stocks down to 7.75%. Webpage: https://t.co/wy8WGu8WcI, Spreadsheet: https://t.co/RBWy5sNlar, ERP Paper: https://t.co/w3lpt11vY5

Nike's brand name has been dented, but it persists. As a mass market apparel and footwear company, it remains a prime target for disruptors like On and Hoka, and older players like New Balance rediscovering their mojo. Elliott Hill has some work to do. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp

Even great brands lose their value, through aging products/customers, benign neglect, cultural shifts, changing tastes and sometimes toxic connections. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp

How great brands get created remains a mystery with the following ingredients: Emotional attachment + Celebrity connection + Memorable advertising + Fortuitous events. Nike's swoosh, slogan and name were choices that proved provident, and signing Jordan as a rookie was a game

Nike's value is very much a function of whether you think that recent setbacks are temporary or permanent, with the current stock price (after the CEO change) reflecting a market expectation of a bounce back. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp https://t.co/6oPHNbtTlJ

With companies with multiple competitive advantages, it becomes more difficult, albeit no impossible, to isolate brand name value. Here was my attempt with Birkenstock, at the time of its IPO. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp https://t.co/V3ZJUVN0qQ

With Nike, there is evidence of a brand name pricing premium, showing up as a higher operating margin. That advantage has narrowed in the last five years, and briefly disappeared in 2023. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp https://t.co/xaI47auCY7

Brand name is easiest to value in companies, where it is the sole or primary competitive advantage, with operating margin functioning as the lever to adjustments. Here is my attempt to deconstruct Coca Cola's brand name. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp https://t.co/vW0HdNFbvP

The input most affected by a powerful brand name is operating profit margin, since a strong brand name endows its owner with pricing power, allowing it to charge a higher price for essentially the same product. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp https://t.co/8FojZZT5aC

What is a brand name? What goes into its creation and what gives it value? And why does it sometimes fade? I use Nike's recent troubles to try and answer those questions. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp

Looking at brand name through a valuation lens, brand name has the capacity to affect almost every input into value, from revenue growth to margins to risk. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp https://t.co/lfBOj84J0F

Brand names can attach themselves to entire companies, to individual products and even to people, and they sometimes interact. Nike's and Michael Jordan's brand names were intertwined. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp

While recognizing and remembering a company or product's name is a first step to brand name value, the value comes from how that recognition and remembrance changes customer, supplier, capital-provider and employee behavior. https://t.co/e576PlHwPp

The Fed (central banking) delusion has distracted us from focusing on fundamentals and holding ourselves accountable for the mistakes we mean. It is time to let it go! https://t.co/kE5GLqHYkr

For the last two decades, "the Fed did it" has become an excuse for every underperforming group in markets, from market timers, when timing indicators fail, to active investors, explaining away a decade of under performance, to economists, when the inverted yield curve is not

On Wednesday (Sept 16), after months of debate, discussion and handwringing, the Fed lowered the Fed Funds rate by half a percent. If the aftermath feels anticlimactic, it is because of the mythology around central banking: https://t.co/kE5GLqHYkr