Build Your Foundation in Financial Valuation
Learn practical valuation techniques used by analysts working with real companies. Our fall 2025 program teaches DCF modeling, comparable analysis, and equity valuation through hands-on case studies based on actual market data.
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Three Core Approaches We Teach
Each method serves a different purpose in the valuation process
Discounted Cash Flow
You'll build models that project free cash flows and calculate present value. We start with simple single-stage models, then move to more complex scenarios with multiple growth phases. Most students find this challenging at first because you need to understand both the mechanics and the underlying business drivers.
Comparable Analysis
This method involves finding similar companies and comparing their multiples. The tricky part isn't the math—it's selecting truly comparable firms and adjusting for differences. We use real examples from different sectors so you can see how industry characteristics affect which multiples matter most.
Precedent Transactions
Looking at past deals helps establish valuation ranges, but context matters enormously. A transaction from 2020 might not be relevant in 2025. We'll show you how to evaluate which precedents actually apply to your situation and how to adjust for market conditions that have changed.
How You'll Actually Learn This
Our approach focuses on doing rather than just watching
01
Start With Real Financial Statements
We don't use simplified examples. You'll work with actual 10-K filings and annual reports from public companies. This means dealing with footnotes, non-recurring items, and all the messy details that make real analysis challenging. It's frustrating at first but essential for building practical skills.
02
Build Your Models Step by Step
Each week you'll add another layer to your valuation model. We start with historical analysis, move to forecasting, then add terminal value calculations. By the end, you'll have a complete DCF model you built yourself—not one you downloaded or copied.
03
Compare Your Results With Markets
After completing your valuation, you'll compare it to actual market prices and analyst consensus. Sometimes you'll be close, sometimes way off. Both outcomes teach you something important about what the market sees that you might have missed or what assumptions really drive value.
04
Present and Defend Your Analysis
The final step involves explaining your valuation to others who will question your assumptions. This is where you learn to distinguish between reasonable estimates and wishful thinking. It's also where most people realize that valuation is as much about judgment as it is about spreadsheet skills.
Common Challenges You'll Face
And what we do to help you work through them
Forecasting Revenue Growth
Everyone struggles with this because you're essentially predicting the future. We teach you to look at historical patterns, industry trends, and competitive dynamics. You won't get it exactly right—no one does—but you'll learn to make defensible assumptions based on available evidence rather than guesses.
Determining Discount Rates
WACC calculations seem straightforward until you start debating what risk-free rate to use or how to estimate beta. Small changes in discount rates create huge valuation swings. We spend significant time on this because understanding cost of capital is fundamental to everything else.
Handling Special Situations
What do you do when a company has negative earnings? How do you value cyclical businesses? What about firms with significant intangible assets? These situations require modified approaches, and we cover the most common ones you'll encounter in practice.
Checking Your Work
The hardest part might be knowing when your model is reasonable versus when you've made an error. We teach several sanity checks and cross-validation techniques that help you catch mistakes before they undermine your entire analysis.
What Past Participants Say
Honest feedback from people who completed the program
The program was tougher than I expected. Building a full DCF model from scratch took me about three times longer than I thought it would. But that struggle is exactly what made it valuable—I actually understand how these models work now, not just how to plug in numbers.
What helped most was working with real company data instead of textbook examples. Real financials are messy and don't fit neatly into formulas. Learning to deal with that messiness—adjusting for one-time items, handling different accounting policies—that's where the practical skill development happened for me.
Next Program Starts October 2025
The program runs for twelve weeks with weekly sessions and ongoing project work. Applications open in June 2025. If you're considering it, look at the full curriculum and schedule first—this requires consistent time commitment throughout the fall.