Comparable companies model
Calendarised, LTM, trading and transaction multiples. Bring a peer set to one calendar year and one trailing period, compute and defend the multiples, and carry each range through a football field to an implied value per share.
Built in: Investment banking, Equity research and hedge funds, Private equity
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: comparable companies model.Updated 30 September 2026
Who builds it, and for whatA standard valuation page in pitch books and fairness opinions, the table an equity analyst maintains for a coverage sector, and a check a private equity team runs on the multiple it is about to pay. The judgement is in the peer set; the credibility is in the preparation, which is why analysts are asked about calendarisation and the LTM build.
Every sheet below, in your browser. Sign in free to change the inputs and watch it recalculate
Starter workbook free with an account. Worked model: one a month with Plus, every one with Pro. Downloads
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assumptions | |||||||||
| 2 | $m unless stated. Columns are peers. FY0A is each peer’s last reported fiscal year. | |||||||||
| 4 | Peer | Unit | Peer A | Peer B | Peer C | Peer D | Peer E | Peer F | Notes | |
| 5 | Market data | |||||||||
| 6 | Share price (illustrative input) | $ per share | 42.00 | 88.00 | 25.00 | 130.00 | 16.00 | 61.00 | Assumed price at the valuation date, not a market quote | |
| 7 | Diluted shares outstanding | m shares | 120.0 | 60.0 | 300.0 | 45.0 | 500.0 | 90.0 | ||
| 8 | Total debt | $m | 300.0 | 500.0 | 900.0 | 350.0 | 1,200.0 | 250.0 | ||
| 9 | Cash and equivalents | $m | 150.0 | 200.0 | 250.0 | 400.0 | 300.0 | 180.0 | ||
| 10 | Minority interest | $m | - | 20.0 | - | - | 50.0 | - | ||
| 12 | Fiscal year | |||||||||
| 13 | Fiscal year end month | month | 12 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 1 = January, 12 = December | |
| 15 | Revenue by fiscal year | |||||||||
| 16 | Revenue, FY0A | $m | 1,800.0 | 2,600.0 | 3,200.0 | 2,100.0 | 4,100.0 | 1,500.0 | Last reported fiscal year | |
| 17 | Revenue, FY1E | $m | 1,950.0 | 2,750.0 | 3,400.0 | 2,300.0 | 4,250.0 | 1,680.0 | Current fiscal year, estimate | |
| 18 | Revenue, FY2E | $m | 2,100.0 | 2,900.0 | 3,650.0 | 2,500.0 | 4,400.0 | 1,880.0 | Next fiscal year, estimate | |
| 20 | EBITDA by fiscal year | |||||||||
| 21 | EBITDA, FY0A | $m | 360.0 | 620.0 | 540.0 | 520.0 | 700.0 | 330.0 | ||
| 22 | EBITDA, FY1E | $m | 400.0 | 660.0 | 590.0 | 580.0 | 740.0 | 380.0 | ||
| 23 | EBITDA, FY2E | $m | 440.0 | 700.0 | 650.0 | 640.0 | 780.0 | 440.0 | ||
| 25 | Net income by fiscal year | |||||||||
| 26 | Net income, FY0A | $m | 190.0 | 340.0 | 260.0 | 300.0 | 320.0 | 180.0 | ||
| 27 | Net income, FY1E | $m | 215.0 | 365.0 | 290.0 | 335.0 | 345.0 | 210.0 | ||
| 28 | Net income, FY2E | $m | 240.0 | 390.0 | 325.0 | 375.0 | 370.0 | 245.0 | ||
| 30 | Year to date (current fiscal year), for the LTM build | |||||||||
| 31 | Months reported year to date | months | 6 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 6 | ||
| 32 | Revenue, year to date | $m | 980.0 | 1,380.0 | 880.0 | 1,720.0 | 2,150.0 | 850.0 | ||
| 33 | Revenue, same period of prior year | $m | 900.0 | 1,300.0 | 820.0 | 1,580.0 | 2,060.0 | 740.0 | ||
| 34 | EBITDA, year to date | $m | 200.0 | 330.0 | 150.0 | 430.0 | 375.0 | 195.0 | ||
| 35 | EBITDA, same period of prior year | $m | 180.0 | 305.0 | 140.0 | 390.0 | 350.0 | 165.0 | ||
| 36 | Net income, year to date | $m | 105.0 | 180.0 | 72.0 | 250.0 | 170.0 | 108.0 | ||
| 37 | Net income, same period of prior year | $m | 95.0 | 165.0 | 66.0 | 225.0 | 160.0 | 90.0 | ||
| 39 | Target company | |||||||||
| 40 | Target company revenue, LTM | $m | 1,250.0 | |||||||
| 41 | Target company EBITDA, LTM | $m | 275.0 | |||||||
| 42 | Target company net income, LTM | $m | 140.0 | |||||||
| 43 | Target company revenue, CY1 | $m | 1,360.0 | CY1 as defined on the Calendarisation sheet | ||||||
| 44 | Target company EBITDA, CY1 | $m | 310.0 | |||||||
| 45 | Target company net income, CY1 | $m | 160.0 | |||||||
| 46 | Target company net debt | $m | 200.0 | |||||||
| 47 | Target company diluted shares | m shares | 80.0 | |||||||
| 48 | Target company share price (illustrative input) | $ per share | 38.00 | Assumed price, not a market quote. Used for the premium method. | ||||||
Select a cell to see its row, its schedule and the type of cell. Font colours: blue for inputs, black for formulas, green for links to other sheets. Scroll sideways to see every period.
Download
Comparable companies model: the workbook
Excel workbook with working formulas, no macros and no external links. Work with it above first; it is the same model as the preview.
What the base case says
- Median EV / LTM EBITDA, trading comparables
- 13.0x
- Median price / CY1 earnings, trading comparables
- 22.7x
- Median EV / LTM EBITDA, precedent transactions
- 13.7x
- Median premium paid, precedent transactions
- 21.9%
- Implied value per share, median trading EV / LTM EBITDA
- 42.19
- Median trading EV / LTM EBITDA value vs assumed share price
- 11.0%
Read from the workbook as served, every input at its default. Periods: Peer A, Peer B, Peer C, Peer D, Peer E, Peer F. The figures are invented and move with whatever you type in.
What this model is
A comparable companies valuation of one target company by two methods: trading comparables (six listed peers) and precedent transactions (six acquisitions).
Peer figures are calendarised to calendar years (CY0 and CY1) and built to the last twelve months (LTM) before enterprise value and five multiples are calculated, with growth, margin and leverage alongside.
The Summary sheet gives the low, median, mean and high of each multiple. The Football Field sheet applies each range to the target company to give a valuation range by method, as implied enterprise value and implied value per share.
Seats: Investment banking, Equity research and hedge funds, Private equity.
How the schedules connect
Every row in the workbook is tagged with the schedule it belongs to; the inspector above shows the tag when you click a row. These are the schedules this model is made of and where each one lives.
Calendarisation
Every peer on the same calendar year
Assumptions, row 13 · Assumptions, rows 16–18 · Assumptions, rows 21–23 · Assumptions, rows 26–28 · Calendarisation, rows 6–8 · Calendarisation, rows 11–13 · Calendarisation, rows 16–22
LTM build
Last fiscal year, plus the stub, less the prior stub
Assumptions, rows 31–37 · LTM, rows 6–9 · LTM, rows 12–15
Trading multiples
Enterprise value, the five multiples, and the range
Assumptions, rows 6–10 · Multiples, rows 6–10 · Multiples, rows 13–17 · Multiples, rows 20–22 · Summary, rows 5–6 · Summary, rows 10–14
Precedent transactions
What acquirers paid for control
Precedents, rows 6–11 · Precedents, rows 14–18 · Summary, rows 17–21
Football field
Each range applied to the target, to a share price
Assumptions, rows 40–48 · Football Field, rows 6–10 · Football Field, rows 13–15 · Football Field, rows 18–25 · Football Field, rows 28–30
What you should be able to explain
- Why enterprise value pairs with revenue and EBITDA while price pairs with net income, and what goes wrong when they are mixed.
- How a June year end becomes a calendar year, and why peers must be on the same year before their multiples are compared.
- What the last-twelve-months build adds and subtracts, and how to check it against the filings.
- Why the range is quoted as quartiles around a median, and what one outlier does to the mean.
- What a precedent multiple carries that a trading multiple does not, and why the premium is shown separately.
What a reviewer looks for
- Enterprise value over net income, or price over EBITDA.
- A forward multiple for one peer against a trailing multiple for another.
- A peer with a March year end left on its fiscal-year figures beside December peers.
- A last-twelve-months figure that adds the current stub without subtracting the prior one.
- A football field that applies an enterprise-value multiple and forgets the bridge to equity.
Conventions this workbook uses
Stated on the cover sheet too. A model is only as trustworthy as the decisions it tells you it made.
- FY0A is each peer’s last reported fiscal year; FY1E and FY2E are estimates. CY0 is the calendar year in which FY0A ends and CY1 the year after.
- Calendarisation: calendar-year figure = FY x (M / 12) + following FY x ((12 - M) / 12), where M is the fiscal year end month. A December year end is its own calendar year.
- LTM = last fiscal year + current year to date - same period of the prior year. Stub months are inputs so they can be checked against filings.
- Share prices are illustrative inputs at an assumed valuation date, not market quotes. Balance sheet figures are taken at the same date.
- Enterprise value = market capitalisation + debt + minority interest - cash. Preferred stock and pension deficits are not modelled.
- Enterprise value multiples use revenue and EBITDA; price multiples use net income.
- Trading comparables reflect market prices for minority stakes. Precedent transactions reflect prices paid for control, including a premium, and are applied to the target company’s LTM figures.
- The range runs from the lower to the upper quartile by default, with the median as the central estimate. The mean is shown for reference; it is sensitive to outliers.
- Earnings-based values are converted to enterprise value by adding target company net debt. Every method is converted to value per share by deducting net debt and dividing by diluted shares.
Build it yourself
The starter workbook
The Calendarisation and LTM sheets have been cleared below their headers. Build the calendar-year weights, the CY0 and CY1 figures and the LTM build for each peer. The Checks sheet shows when December year ends calendarise to themselves and no prior-year stub exceeds its fiscal year.
Blanks: Calendarisation, LTM build. Free with any account. Compare with the worked model when you are done: download above.
The path around this model
Understand it, drill it, read the build, then apply it to a real company.
Understand · Primer
Comparable Company Valuation
Intermediate · a curated reel with a quiz
Build · Lab · ~15 min
Comps Explorer
Curate a peer set you can defend name by name, calendarise it to one year end, and say what the median does and does not tell you.
Build · Lab · ~3 min
Name That Multiple
Place a business in the right EV/EBITDA band from its quality alone, and say what drives it.
Build · Lab · ~12 min
EV to Equity Bridge
Walk from enterprise value to a price per share without dropping a claim: net debt, pensions, minorities, leases and options.
Read · Guide · 7 min
Comparable Companies (Comps) Interview Questions
Read · Guide · 7 min
Enterprise Value vs. Equity Value, Once and For All
Apply · Skill
Selected Public Companies
Show what peers trade at and what that range implies for the target.
Apply · Skill
Comps Set Builder
Choose a defensible comparable-companies universe, and be able to defend every inclusion.
Vocabulary: Comparable Companies (Comps), Calendarisation, LTM (Last Twelve Months), Precedent Transactions, Control Premium, Football Field.
Questions about this model
Why are the quartile numbers inputs?
Because the range is a judgement. Lower to upper quartile is the usual presentation, but a tight peer set may justify the full range and a loose one may not justify any. With the quartiles as inputs, changing them to 0 and 4 shows the field at its widest, and a reader can see how much of the answer is the choice of range.
Why calendarise instead of using each peer’s fiscal year?
Because a multiple compares a price at one date with earnings over a period, and the periods have to be the same period. A peer whose year ended in March is reporting a different nine months of the economy from one whose year ended in December. Weighting the two fiscal years by the months that fall in the calendar year puts every column on the same twelve months.
How is the LTM figure built?
Last fiscal year, plus the current year to date, less the same months of the prior year. The stub months are inputs so the arithmetic can be checked against the quarterly filings, and the Checks sheet holds every prior-year stub inside its fiscal year.
Why do the precedent transactions use the target’s LTM figures?
Because that is the basis on which the deals were priced: an acquirer pays a multiple of what the target has just earned, and the announcement multiples are quoted that way. Applying a deal multiple to a forward estimate would mix a control price with a forecast it was never struck on.
What does it cost?
Nothing to preview: the whole workbook is on this page, and a free account works with it online, every formula included. Every starter workbook downloads with a free account. L3VLUP Plus ($4.99/month) keeps one worked model each billing month, yours for good, and L3VLUP Pro ($25/month) keeps every one.