Unlock Your Investment Potential with Our Powerful Intrinsic Value Calculator

Investing in the stock market can be an emotional rollercoaster, filled with uncertainty and doubt. But what if you had a tool that could cut through the noise and help you make confident, informed decisions? Enter our Intrinsic Value Calculator – your key to unlocking the true potential of your investments.

What is intrinsic value?

Intrinsic value is the true, underlying worth of a company – the price that a savvy investor would gladly pay if they knew everything about the company’s current strength and future prospects. By understanding intrinsic value, you can:

  • Discover hidden gems in the market that others have overlooked
  • Avoid the heartache of overpaying for hyped-up stocks
  • Make decisions based on solid fundamentals, not fleeting emotions

Our calculator takes the guesswork out of valuation, providing you with a clear, objective view of a stock’s true worth. And with our user-friendly interface, you don’t need to be a financial expert to harness its power.

Intrinsic Value Calculator

How to use the Intrinsic Value Calculator

Intrinsic Value Calculator Demo: How to Value Stocks Like a Pro

Click on the video and expand to full screen to view a demo of the Intrinsic Value Calculator.

Detailed instructions are also provided below the dashboard.

If you need a refresher on any of the financial metrics used, our Stock Investing Glossary is just a click away.

Our Intrinsic Value Calculator uses a discounted cash flow (DCF) model to estimate the fair value of any stock, based on your custom assumptions. Here’s how it works:

  1. Enter the business name or stock symbol in the ‘Business Search’ drop down list (see video for guidance)
  2. Input your estimates for key metrics like revenue growth, profitability, and required rate of return for the next 10 years (using the historical results on the right as a guide).
  3. Immediately see the calculated fair value price and potential upside for your stock

Intrinsic Value Calculator Dashboard

Please suggest improvements to this dashboard by providing feedback in the form on the Contact page.

The Intrinsic Value Calculator is a guide only. The accuracy of the data in this website is not guaranteed and it is highly recommended that you perform your own due diligence before making an investment decision by directly reviewing the business’s annual report and accompanying financial statements.  The fair value price calculation is highly dependent on the assumptions you enter and past financial performance does not necessarily predict the future.

Detailed instructions for the Intrinsic Value Calculator?

Business Search

  • Search for the desired business in the ‘Business Search’ dropdown using the search box (see screenshot example)

Screenshot Example of Business Search

Business search screenshot

Entering the User Assumptions

  • Use the first four sliders to input your 10 year assumptions for annual revenue growth, net profit margin, cash conversion ratio (free cash flow to net profit ratio) and the terminal P/E ratio in 10 years time.  These assumptions are used to estimate the net profits and free cash flows for the next 10 years and the terminal value in 10 years time.
  • You may consult the historical tables and charts on the right side of the dashboard as a guide for your assumptions.
  • To better understand the meaning of the financial metrics, refer to our Stock Investing Glossary.
  • Refer to the Implied Growth Rates table to understand how your assumptions impact the growth rate for net profit and free cash flow over the next 10 years.  You may adjust your assumptions until you achieve the desired growth rates.
  • Compare your Implied Growth Rates to the Actual Historical Growth Rates shown in the bar charts below.  The red line in the bar chart represents the Implied Growth Rate based on your assumptions.  You may adjust your user assumptions based on this comparison.
  • Use the last slider to enter the annual discount rate.  The discount rate is used to discount the future free cash flows back to today.  The discount rate is your required annual rate of return, which is based on your available investment opportunities.  The default discount rate is 12% p.a. as you would typically expect to achieve a 9% p.a. return from a diversified indexed equity fund over the long term.  An extra 3% p.a. is added as a margin of safety.  The logic is that if your stock investments cannot outperform an indexed equity fund with a reasonable margin of safety then it’s preferable to just invest in the indexed equity fund (which is diversified across many stocks).
  • Past financial performance does not necessarily predict future performance, so be conservative with your assumptions and research the business thoroughly. It is recommended that you read the annual reports.
Intrinsic Value Calculator

Interpreting the results

  • The results are displayed in the ‘Fair Value’ table in the top left of the dashboard.
  • The ‘Fair Value Price’ is the calculated intrinsic value of the business based on your assumptions.  The fair value price is calculated by discounting the projected free cash flows back to today using the discount rate.
  • The ‘Discount to Fair Value’ is highlighted green if the current stock price is lower than the fair value price (undervalued) or red if the current stock price is higher (overvalued).
  • The ‘Forecast IRR’ is the annual rate of return that will be achieved over the next 10 years if you:
      • buy the stock at the current price;
      • hold it for the next 10 years; and
      • your assumptions are correct.

Other information

  • It is recommended that you vary your assumptions to establish reasonable upper and lower bounds for the intrinsic value.  The intrinsic value calculator is only as good as the assumptions that you enter.
  • The dashboard is best viewed on a desktop device. For the best mobile phone experience, view the dashboard using landscape orientation.

What is an Intrinsic Value Calculator?

Consider an intrinsic value calculator as your investment secret weapon! In just a few clicks, you can determine a stock’s investment potential.

An intrinsic value calculator determines a stock’s fair market price based on underlying fundamentals and future prospects. Benjamin Graham, the “father of value investing,” introduced the concept of intrinsic value in his 1934 book, “Security Analysis”. He argued that stocks should be valued based on assets, earnings power, and future growth potential.

The market price is often influenced by human emotions and herd mentality, causing it to deviate significantly from a stock’s true worth. An intrinsic value calculator helps investors see past market noise and make informed decisions about whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.

By comparing the current market price to the fair value price (intrinsic value), you can determine if a stock is undervalued. If the current market price is less than the fair value price, the stock may be undervalued based on the calculator’s assumptions.

Using the fair value price for valuation helps prevent overpaying for stocks which will improve your long-term returns. The stock’s fair value price changes over time as business fundamentals and future prospects change, so recalculate the fair value price when new information becomes available. Remember that the fair value price is an estimate only based on the assumptions that you enter.

Why calculate the fair value price using an Intrinsic Value Calculator?

Informed investment decisions

An intrinsic value calculator offers a key advantage: it helps you make well-informed investment decisions based on a business’s future prospects. By comparing a stock’s intrinsic value to its market price, you can identify undervalued or overvalued stocks and better investment opportunities. This approach prevents overpaying for stocks and enhances your overall portfolio return.

Rational decision making

The stock market can be emotionally volatile, but an intrinsic value calculator keeps you grounded for rational decision making. Focusing on a stock’s intrinsic value rather than its market price helps you navigate market fluctuations and avoid getting swept up in hype. When the market price falls below a stock’s intrinsic value, you’ll recognize a prime buying opportunity.

Invest confidently for the long-term

Benjamin Graham, the “father of value investing,” explained that while the market behaves like a voting machine in the short run, it acts as a weighing machine in the long run. Although short-term stock price movements are hard to predict, stock prices will gravitate towards their intrinsic value over time.

Using our intrinsic value calculator to estimate a stock’s fair value price helps you determine if it’s a good long-term investment. Keep in mind that patience is essential since stock prices may deviate from their intrinsic value for years. As Warren Buffett said, the stock market transfers money “from the impatient to the patient” and advised not to own a stock for 10 minutes if you wouldn’t own it for 10 years.

How to calculate the intrinsic value of a stock?

There are two popular methods for calculating a stock’s intrinsic value:

Discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis

DCF analysis involves estimating the future free cash flows that the business is expected to generate into perpetuity and then discounting those free cash flows back to their present value using a discount rate.  In practice, the free cash flows are forecast up to a terminal year (say 10 years) and a terminal value is calculated in the terminal year.  The terminal value may be calculated using a forecast P/E ratio (as used in our calculator) or an assumed free cash flow growth rate beyond the terminal year. 

The discount rate is the required rate of return and represents the opportunity cost to the investor plus a margin for safety.  If the stock cannot outperform other investment opportunities with an adequate margin of safety, such as a diversified equity index fund, it is not worth considering.  DCF analysis is the most commonly used approach to calculating intrinsic value and is the approach used in our Intrinsic Value Calculator.

Investopedia’s Discounted Cash Flow article explains discounted cash flow analysis in further detail.

Comparative Analysis

Comparative analysis involves using financial metrics from comparable businesses, or the industry as a whole, to estimate a business’s intrinsic value.  Financial metrics may include the price/earnings ratio, price/book ratio and price/sales ratio.  

For example if a comparable business X has a price-to-earnings ratio of 10 and business Y has earnings of $1 per share, it may be reasonable to assume that business Y has an intrinsic value is $10 (assuming business X is fairly valued). Note that businesses within the same industry may differ for various reasons, even if they seem similar.

How can we help you better?

Please tell us what improvements would make your experience on our website better? Feel free to provide details!