A Unified Valuation Framework for Dividends, Free Cash Flows, Residual Income, and Earnings Growth Based Models

Abstract

Valuation techniques are important to practitioners and academics. Although theoretically equity value equals the present value of expected dividends, in practice, higher-level metrics such as free cash flows, earnings, and book values are used for valuation. This paper helps us understand these metrics by: (1) providing a common and simple theoretical framework that shows how these alternative valuation metrics can be used instead of dividends; (2) using the common framework to provide the theoretical underpinnings of earnings-based valuation.