We are going to want to get a significantly higher return, obviously — in terms of cash produced relative to the amount we’re outlaying now — for a business than we are from a government bond. That has to be the yardstick at a base.
Opinions of fair value based on DCF calculations are necessarily inexact (rightly vague?). But, at least they at least ask the right question.
Prices in the stock market are never a reliable guide to the fair value of a stock.
Price earnings ratios are simply a rule of thumb. They can lead you astray. But what is worse, they are becoming less and less valid with every passing year.
There is a lot of talk currently about the underperformance of value stocks compared with growth stocks over the last fifteen years. In fact, value investing has performed well against all other styles. This seeming contradiction comes from the fact that value investing and investing in value stocks are not the same thing.