Which Price multiples to use for particular industry

Hi Guys, I am wondering what are important price multiples for different industries (for example, for consumer retail, what would you use? P/E, P/Sales, P/B, EV/EBITDA, P/CF)?? I had this one in my interview with a BB and couldn't figure out which multiple is best.

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Best Response

Simple Rule of Thumb --> if the industry is capital intensive, then use EV/EBITDA. It is independent of capital structure and presents the best view of operational cash flows in industries with heavy capex. Some industries that are capital intensive include: airlines, retail, manufacturers, defense, oil, and restaurants.

Also know the differences between: EBITDA, Operating Cash Flow, and Free Cash Flow.

 
monkeyjunkieYikes, don't get caught saying P/Sales in an interview.

Another important one to know is EV/Sales for tech companies, which often don't have positive earnings or EBITDA

As a note, there are very very very few public "technology" companies today, that have negative EBITDA on a full year basis. In order to go public in tech, you profitability, and some compelling growth story (doesn't have to be real growth... just a story)

 

without giving it a try? definitely gives a wrong impression..

To come back to the price multiples question:

Young start ups and healthcare stocks: it's better to use: enterprise value / sales ratio

Financial services: the traditional return on equity

For which types of firms are PE ratios most appropriate? When to talk about PE ratios and when absolutely not??

like e.g. a company like chevron dealing in oil and alternative energy sources??

"What we can, we must; and because we can, we must"
 

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