Stability of historical earnings is the single most weighted risk factor in calculating the risk multiplier in business valuation. The key is to have good and stable income for the three prior accounting periods (usually one year).
With stock investing, one of the valuation ratios used is the price to book ratio. It identifies the spread between book value and market value for a share of stock. As the spread increases the ratio increases. A good example is Coca-Cola. Its price to book ratio hovers in the 11 range. Coca-Cola is a Dow Jones Industrial top 30 stock.
No other element of the Multiply Discretionary Income Formula has as much weighted value as the historical earnings of the company. Every knowledgeable business entrepreneur, accountant, lawyer, broker, you name them; they look for this information first. There’s a reason for this.
In the world of small business, the sale of a business is dependent on two critical elements. They are DISCRETIONARY INCOME and the BUSINESS RISK MULTIPLIER. These two elements are multiplied to create the overall value of the business operation. In general, no small business operation is worth more than three times the discretionary income.
