Choose peers before choosing a multiple
The Public Company Comps Workbench is a free, reusable Excel template for building a reviewed peer set across 12 sectors. Select peers for how they make money, their scale, growth, margins, capital intensity, and risk.
Make the comparison reproducible
Document inclusions and exclusions. Reconcile fiscal periods, currency, earnings definitions, and enterprise-value adjustments. Review negative or unusually small denominators before interpreting a high multiple. Use the workbook’s quartiles and outlier flags as evidence to review.
Trading comps use public-company market data. A precedent-transaction comparison needs separate transaction evidence: announcement date, stake acquired, consideration, control, and the financial measure used.
Translate the evidence into a range
Explain which peers and metrics support the selected range and why the subject company belongs within it. Carry that range into the valuation analysis alongside cash-flow and downside evidence. Keep any buyer-created synergy in the Synergy Underwriting & Value Bridge.
Transaction stages · All ten topics · Downloads
By Mike Ye · Updated November 1, 2026