Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for practical use
Review: "Damodaran on Valuation" is a thorough book dealing with a wide array of issues in valuation. To assist the reader, well-explained examples are embedded after each section. Provides frameworks excellent for use in practical situations
Rating:
Summary: Good but only short version of another
Review: As everyone will agree, this is a good book in valuation tools. With different version of the DCF models, this book is one of the ideal desk reference of security analysis. However, if you also look at the book "Investment Valuation" by Professor Damodaran, you will agree that this one is only a short version of "Investment Valuation". Almost every topic is covered (or copied) from "Investment Valuation".
I gave "Investment Valuation" a 5-star rating. So, for its short version, I give 4-star.
Rating:
Summary: Good but only short version of another
Review: As everyone will agree, this is a good book in valuation tools. With different version of the DCF models, this book is one of the ideal desk reference of security analysis. However, if you also look at the book "Investment Valuation" by Professor Damodaran, you will agree that this one is only a short version of "Investment Valuation". Almost every topic is covered (or copied) from "Investment Valuation".
I gave "Investment Valuation" a 5-star rating. So, for its short version, I give 4-star.
Rating: 
Summary: The book does not go beyond basics of most subjects touched
Review: I never dreamed of a book that will combine the theory and practice of business valuation to that extent. The examples in the book are all 90s' real examples for many of the multinational, and not only U.S., companies. WIth this extensive coverage of concepts and techniques, I don't feel I am in need for any other security analysis book. By the way, I have been looking for such a book for 6 years now.
Rating: 
Summary: A book that any business valuation advisor should have
Review: I never dreamed of a book that will combine the theory and practice of business valuation to that extent. The examples in the book are all 90s' real examples for many of the multinational, and not only U.S., companies. WIth this extensive coverage of concepts and techniques, I don't feel I am in need for any other security analysis book. By the way, I have been looking for such a book for 6 years now.
Rating:
Summary: The book does not go beyond basics of most subjects touched
Review: I will not receommend this book for an MBA Investment Finance elective level. It is just too basic in most areas, for that purpose. On the other hand, I have already recommended it to most people who wanted to develop their understanding of stock fundamentals entirely on their own. Since I am a teacher, I would like to see the author include more depth and examples specially in the areas of free cash flows based valuation. Secondly, I would like the area of debt leverage and its impact on stock's stand-alone risk, to be given a more extensive coverage.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent review of several valuation techniques though...
Review: Professor Damodaran wrote the most comprehensive introductory books on Valuation I ever read. He covers discounted cash flow, relative valuation and the -still- less accepted contingent claim valuation. In addition, he presents simple solutions to complicated problems. Having in mind its introductory and (almost) self-teaching nature, the book is hard to criticize. Nevertheless, a couple of things should be mentioned to warned the potential reader. First, several issues that Damodaran presents as (almost) unquestionable are actually a matter of dispute among financial analytst. Second, multifactorial models -APT like- deserve much more analyisis. Third, the lack of emphasis on international investments is striking. Fourth, it lacks an analysis on preparing/estimating proforma financial statements. It might seem as a lot of objections but they are not... The book is a must.
Rating:
Summary: Great book on valuation (mainly equity)
Review: The book is mainly aimed at valuation practitioners and MBA sudents. The book deals with 3 valuation techniques- DCF, relative valuation (based on PE, P/BV, PS multiples) and contingent claims (options). Great insights into determining key variables (PE, PS, P/BV) based on business fundamentals and pro and cons of using each approach. However, the book does not go into enough depth in CAPM and APT. The author assumes that the reader would have a fair idea about financial ratios, fundamentals etc. The best part of the book deals with valuation of special cases like cyclical firms, brands etc. and how corporate restructuring affects value. It also provides great insights into valuation for takeovers and mergers. The author provides a usable framework for valuing intangibles in an acquisition target- what the different sources of synergy are and how to value each in a lucid framework. Overall, a good book to gain a firm footing in investment valuation techniques.
Rating:
Summary: A good introductory valuation book
Review: This book provides a good introduction for those who want to learn valuation. Explained in simple English, the book describes many tools on how to do the valuation, particularly for stock valuation (DCF, P/E ratio, etc.).I particularly like the explanation of various models of DCF. The author clearly explains the strengths and weaknesses of each models, possible problems and the solutions to the problems. However, I found that this book lacks more in-depth analysis of the topics covered. Furthermore, I found that the CAPM model, to some extent, does not truly exist in the real corporate world. I have read many valuation reports from big names in investment banking, many of them do not adopt CAPM (for various reasons that make CAPM unapplicable, which are also inherent weaknesses of CAPM, they just put x% as the discount rate). Only few who still stick to CAPM. There should be a bridge between academic and real world applications. A more detailed discussion on CAPM by the author would resolve this issue.
Rating:
Summary: Damordoran on Valuation
Review: This is a great book. It has a lot of helpful valuation techniques and I find them really useful. I particularly like the part on relative valuation method and the way to solve the problem of evaluating P/E multiple of different countries. Very useful indeed. But there is a missing piece about P/S multiple. It is entirely based on DDM. What about company which is not expected to pay out dividend for the coming 20 years. This is a great book and the basic valuation methods are very well covered and explained.
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