DCF Valuation
Unlevered free cash flow discounted at a CAPM-derived WACC, with the year-by-year build shown in full.
Run a DCF Valuation
Every figure is calculated from your inputs, not generated. Free, no sign-up.
Annual, held flat across the forecast.
Working capital absorbed per unit of new revenue.
1-10. Five is conventional.
Long-dated government yield.
Levered equity beta.
Debt as a share of total capital.
Long-run perpetual growth. Must be below WACC.
A funding round, an acquisition, a board discussion — the interpretation is framed around it.
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What this tool does
A discounted cash flow values a company on the cash it will generate rather than the earnings it reports. Unlevered free cash flow is projected year by year, each year discounted back to today at the weighted average cost of capital, and a terminal value added for everything beyond the forecast period. Enterprise value follows, and equity value once net debt is deducted. The most common way a DCF goes quietly wrong is the discount rate: a figure typed into a WACC box is an assertion nobody can examine. This calculator builds it from CAPM instead — risk-free rate, equity risk premium, beta, and the after-tax cost of debt weighted by your capital structure — so every input is visible and arguable. The full year-by-year build is shown, and the calculator warns you when the terminal value carries more than 80% of the answer, which is where these valuations become fragile.
How to use it
- 1Enter base revenue and the growth rate you can defend. Growth held flat across the forecast is conventional; be sure you believe it.
- 2Enter EBITDA margin, tax rate, D&A, capex and working-capital absorption as percentages of revenue.
- 3Build WACC from its components: risk-free rate, equity risk premium, beta, cost of debt and debt weight. Do not skip straight to a rate.
- 4Set terminal growth below long-run nominal growth — the calculator refuses 10% or higher, and rightly so.
- 5Check the terminal-value share before you rely on the output. Above 80%, read the answer as a range.
A worked example
What a real run looks like
Input — a mid-sized operator, not a generic prompt
Base revenue 50m, growth 12%, EBITDA margin 16%, tax 25%, D&A 2.5% of revenue, capex 3%, working capital 12% of revenue growth, 5 forecast years, risk-free 4.5%, ERP 5.5%, beta 1.1, cost of debt 7%, debt weight 25%, terminal growth 2.5%, net debt 9m, 2m shares.
What comes back
Cost of equity 10.55%, after-tax cost of debt 5.25%, WACC 9.22%. Year-one unlevered free cash flow 4.67m, built line by line from EBITDA through NOPAT, D&A, capex and working capital. Present value of the forecast 22.49m; terminal value 112.0m discounted to 72.05m — 76.2% of enterprise value, inside the warning threshold. Enterprise value 94.54m, equity value 85.54m, implied 42.77 per share.
Frequently asked questions
What is a DCF valuation?
A discounted cash flow values a company by projecting the cash it will generate, discounting each year back to today at the cost of capital, and adding a terminal value for everything after the forecast period. It is the standard intrinsic-value method because it depends on cash rather than accounting earnings.
Why is WACC built from CAPM here instead of typed in?
Because a discount rate typed straight into a valuation box is the most common way a DCF ends up quietly wrong. Building it from the risk-free rate, equity risk premium, beta and cost of debt makes every assumption visible and arguable.
How much of a DCF value is the terminal value?
Often 60-80%, which is normal. Above about 80% the valuation becomes highly sensitive to the discount rate and terminal growth, so the output should be read as a range rather than a point estimate. This calculator warns you when that threshold is crossed.
Are the projections calculated or generated?
Calculated. Every year of the forecast — revenue, EBITDA, NOPAT, D&A, capex, working capital, free cash flow and its discounted value — is computed in Python and shown in full, so you can audit the arithmetic rather than take it on trust.
Is this DCF calculator free?
Yes. The ConsultantAI DCF calculator is free and requires no sign-up.
Need this on your own engagement?
The free tool covers the framework. A full ConsultantAI project turns it into a cited, board-ready deliverable built from your documents — market sizing, a financial model, or a complete deck, with every figure sourced.