The Advantages of Earning Capitalization
Companies looking to raise capital may decide to offer up shares of stock for sale on the market. To do this, a company must determine its own value in order to assign a market-based price for its shares. The capitalization of earnings approach provides a method for estimating a company's value. This method offers certain advantages that incorporate changing market conditions when pricing company stock.
-
Capitalization of Earnings
-
Determining a company's value involves complex calculations that use one or more methods for arriving at a final figure. Capitalization of earnings exists as one of three different methods for estimating a company's overall value. The three valuation methods, known as discounted future earnings, excess earnings and capitalization of earnings, work to estimate a company's value based on different aspects of the company's performance. In effect, these three methods base a company's value on one or more factors, all of which influence its income earnings. The capitalization of earnings method uses a combination of past, present and expected future earnings to determine a company's value at different points in time.
Earnings Value
-
When using the capitalization of earnings method, basing a company's value on past, present and future cash earnings provides certain advantages when it comes to pricing company shares at marketable rates. Economic market conditions tend to affect different industries or market sectors in different ways. For example, high inflation rates or interest rate changes may have different effects on a business that sells clothing compared to a business that sells food. Ultimately, these factors affect a company's expected earnings capacity, growth rate and ability to survive in the marketplace. Since the capitalization of earnings method bases its earnings value calculations on changing market conditions, any estimates on a company's stock value correspond with the economic factors that influence the company's particular industry.
-
Business Value
-
Present-day value estimates involve the capitalization of a business's future earnings to arrive at a present-day value for the business. Capitalizing future earnings means estimating future income based on past performance, current financial capacity and expectations regarding future market conditions. This method discounts or reduces future earnings estimates based on the effects of changing economic conditions as well as the effects of time on the value of money. The discount feature provides an advantage when estimating a business's overall value by factoring in future market conditions when figuring a company's actual earnings capacity.
Stock Valuation
-
Stock valuation involves the use of one of three methods designed to assign a price to a company's stock. One methods bases stock pricing on current market rates for the type of stock under consideration. Another method bases stock pricing on how much it would cost to replace or rebuild the issuing company. The third method uses the capitalization of earnings approach as the basis for stock pricing. Within the stock valuation process, the steps involving present-day value and earnings value calculations provide an advantage when it comes to assigning a value to a company stock. In effect, the capitalization of earnings method incorporates the effects of economic conditions as well as factors related to a company's industry. As a result, the resulting price accounts for inherent market risks and potential rates of return based on factors that directly affect a company's earnings in the marketplace.
-