Strangely, it never it occurred to me that anyone would be interested in a Mac spreadsheet for valuing a company based on DCF. I created my own because I could not find one on the internet, so I incorrectly figured no one really used a Mac in this world, but me. Where as the entertainment business is a Mac dominated industry, finance seems to be a PC dominated world and for good reason. Microsoft sucks ( I am not being harsh) at porting Office for Mac. It stripped out some of the most useful features in the excel version for Mac and has no intention of adding them in the future.

It did not occur that others were in my boat until I got a couple of requests to get a copy of my valuation spreadsheet in response to my mentioning it in my post about Checking Data before Investing. These requests  prompted me to thinking about it more seriously, and I thought I would offer up a couple of items before I complete the revision of the spreadsheet.

First, there is the caveat that you will need to input ALL of your own data. None of the cool cheats that you can get in the PC world thanks to Microsoft.

Second, because this is my spreadsheet, these are my valuation techniques, including my formulas or adaptations for calculating value, that may differ from other more standard ideas. In general that will make my valuations more conservative. Instead of using a classic DCF, I use a Net Present value of the growth of Free Cash Flow (FCF) over ten years with assumptions about my discount rate, which is never less than 15%. I have stated on this blog a lot, I want to find great investments, not just pretty good ones.

Third, I don’t include any calculation for Weighted Average cost of Capital for many good reasons. The first of which is that it is too complicated to calculate with any real accuracy. The second is that I am always looking for a fairly high return on my investment so my DCF is based on my desired return not an arbitrary calculation that is a better theory than practical tool, at least according to Charlie Munger.

Finally, if you are interested in a DCF spreadsheet for Mac drop me a comment on any post or email me at chroma at  ChromaInvesting dot com. I should a version completed for release by the end of the week.

5 Responses to “Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Spreadsheet for Mac”

1. Jason
   November 24th, 2009 @ 9:51 pm

   Great… as another mac user, I face the same issues… however, have you noticed lately it’s getting easier as the world switches over to a mac? Sure, let me know when you’ve got it completed…would love to take a look.

2. chroma
   November 25th, 2009 @ 5:58 pm

   Yeah, it is getting easier, but Excel for Mac is really Excel lite. The program should be half the price. Unfortunately, there is no good competition so we are stuck with Microsoft products.

3. chroma
   November 28th, 2009 @ 9:57 am

   I have posted the slimmed down version of my DCF for mac.

4. Mark
   March 10th, 2010 @ 3:04 am

   Microsoft is awesome. They are great at everthing they make.

5. chroma
   March 10th, 2010 @ 9:20 am

   I can not tell if you are being sarcastic. I would be if I were saying those words. Thanks for stopping by regardless.

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