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 a range through a football field to a share price.
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 whatThe first valuation page in every pitch book and fairness opinion, the table an equity analyst keeps live for a coverage sector, and the sanity 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 housekeeping, which is why an associate is asked about calendarisation and the LTM build before being asked about the answer.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assumptions | ||||||||
| 2 | Blue cells only. $ millions except per-share figures; shares in millions. Every peer and every deal is invented. | ||||||||
| 4 | Peer | Unit | Peer A | Peer B | Peer C | Peer D | Peer E | Peer F | |
| 5 | Market data | ||||||||
| 6 | Share price | $ | 42.00 | 88.00 | 25.00 | 130.00 | 16.00 | 61.00 | |
| 7 | Diluted shares outstanding | m | 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 number) | month | 12 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 12 | |
| 15 | Revenue by fiscal year | ||||||||
| 16 | Revenue, last fiscal year (FY0A) | $m | 1,800.0 | 2,600.0 | 3,200.0 | 2,100.0 | 4,100.0 | 1,500.0 | |
| 17 | Revenue, current fiscal year (FY1E) | $m | 1,950.0 | 2,750.0 | 3,400.0 | 2,300.0 | 4,250.0 | 1,680.0 | |
| 18 | Revenue, next fiscal year (FY2E) | $m | 2,100.0 | 2,900.0 | 3,650.0 | 2,500.0 | 4,400.0 | 1,880.0 | |
| 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, for the LTM build | ||||||||
| 31 | Months reported in the current fiscal year | 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 last 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 last 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 last year | $m | 95.0 | 165.0 | 66.0 | 225.0 | 160.0 | 90.0 | |
| 39 | The target | ||||||||
| 40 | Target revenue, last twelve months | $m | 1,250.0 | ||||||
| 41 | Target EBITDA, last twelve months | $m | 275.0 | ||||||
| 42 | Target net income, last twelve months | $m | 140.0 | ||||||
| 43 | Target revenue, next calendar year | $m | 1,360.0 | ||||||
| 44 | Target EBITDA, next calendar year | $m | 310.0 | ||||||
| 45 | Target net income, next calendar year | $m | 160.0 | ||||||
| 46 | Target net debt | $m | 200.0 | ||||||
| 47 | Target diluted shares | m | 80.0 | ||||||
| 48 | Target share price today | $ | 38.00 |
Click any cell. The inspector names the line, the schedule it belongs to and what kind of cell it is; blue on cream is an input, black a calculation, green a value from another sheet. Scroll sideways to see every year.
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Comparable companies model: the workbook
Native Excel, formulas live, no macros, no external links. Inspect it above first; the file is the same model with the formulas in it.
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What the base case says
- Median EV / LTM EBITDA, peers
- 13.0x
- Median price / calendar year 1 earnings, peers
- 22.7x
- Median EV / LTM EBITDA, precedents
- 13.7x
- Median premium paid
- 21.9%
- Implied share price, median EV / LTM EBITDA
- 42.19
- Against today’s 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
Six peers brought to the same footing before a single multiple is read: each calendarised to the calendar year from its own fiscal year, and each given a last-twelve-months figure from its latest stub.
Enterprise value from the market, five multiples, and beside them the growth, margin and leverage that explain why one peer trades above another.
Six precedent transactions for the control view: enterprise value paid on the target’s last twelve months, and the premium over the undisturbed price.
A summary that quotes each range as quartiles, median and mean, and a football field that carries every range through to a share price for the target.
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 16–21
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 the peer table is meaningless until every column is on the same year.
- 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.
- Calendar year N for a peer whose fiscal year ends in month M of year N is FY_N × (M ÷ 12) + FY_(N+1) × ((12 − M) ÷ 12). A December year end is its own calendar year.
- LTM is the 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 filings.
- Enterprise value is market capitalisation plus debt and minority interest less cash. Preferred stock and pension deficits would sit on the same lines and are left at zero.
- Multiples pair a claim with the earnings that belong to it: enterprise value with revenue and EBITDA, price with net income. Mixing them is the first mistake a reviewer looks for.
- The range is lower quartile to upper quartile by default, with the median as the point estimate. The mean is shown, not relied on; one outlier moves it.
- Precedent multiples are applied to the target’s LTM figures, because that is the basis on which the deal multiples were struck.
Build it yourself
The starter workbook
The Calendarisation and LTM sheets have been cleared below their headers. Build the weights, the calendar-year figures and the last-twelve-months build for every peer so that the multiples, the summary and the football field come back to life. The Checks sheet tells you when a December year end calendarises to itself and when no stub exceeds its 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 today 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 inspect: the whole workbook is on this page. A free account chooses one worked model to keep, and downloads every starter workbook. L3VLUP Pro ($25/month) downloads the whole library and opens every model’s formulas in the inspector.