DCF Crash Course

I have an interview with a firm coming up, and part of the interview is a modeling exercise (creating a DCF from scratch). As an underclassman, I have never taken a corporate finance or modeling course. I'll go through the Vault guide and absorb anything I can, but do you guys have any suggestions on how to create a DCF? Any advice is much appreciated.

 
Best Response

Depending on how much time you have before the interview (i.e. can you wait a few days for delivery) and how much you want to spend, you may look into Training the Street's self-study valuation course. I wouldn't say that it is outstanding, and, honestly, maybe not quite worth the $100, but it really is a crash course in valuation (not just dcf, also market comps, transaction comps, merger consequences, and LBO). I found it to be really helpful in preparing for interviews. Once it arrives you should be able to crank through it in like 6-8 hours. Less if you just focus on the dcf section.

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