TL;DR: The use of the capital markets to absorb insurance and related financial market risks, through securitization, increases the available capital to support these risks taken by (re)insurers and leads to greater capacity and a more efficient market as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Securitization is one of many tools available to a (re)insurer for risk or capital management purposes. The use of the capital markets to absorb insurance and related financial market risks, through securitization, increases the available capital to support these risks taken by (re)insurers and leads to greater capacity and a more efficient market. Packaging life insurance risks into insurance-linked securities (ILS) enables sponsors to access additional capital in the fixed-income market, whose players value the ability to diversify risks and assets, and the opportunity to invest in instruments with a range of durations at attractive spreads. Life ILS typically fall into three broad categories: first, catastrophe cover to manage peak risks, i.e., pandemic protection; second, embedded value (EV) securitizations to help firms manage their capital more efficiently; and, third, financing transactions, such as redundant reserve financing, i.e., “XXX” or “AXXX” securitizations where
little or no insurance risk is transferred.
TL;DR: In this paper, a user-based economic valuation methodology and model for the economic analysis on the DDS of foreign journals is developed for analyzing the economic value of DDS journals.
Abstract: This study is to develope a user-based economic valuation methodology and model for the economic analysis on the DDS of foreign journals. For this study, the sampling data on the annual subscribed journals by K institution was used and the online questionnaire was used to collect data. There are three aspects of the economic value of DDS journals was classified as use value, non-use value, and expectancy value. We suggested the income and market approach to measure its economic use value. To estimate the its value by individual users, this study applied a contingent valuation method and designed the imaginary scenarios.
TL;DR: In this article, a residual value after depreciation is calculated for every middle classification item from an asset amount of the middle classification items input through itemized construction cost data input screens W2A and W2B and the residual value is added up to produce a cumulative residual value of a single building.
Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately assess an asset, and easily and quickly compute a correct asset value at any time. SOLUTION: A residual value after depreciation is calculated for every middle classification item from an asset amount of the middle classification item input through itemized construction cost data input screens W2A and W2B and a depreciation rate corresponding to the middle classification item, and the residual value is added up to produce a cumulative residual value of a single building. According to an amount of work costs specified for renewing, repairing or improving the depreciable asset, the residual value of every classification item is recalculated with reflections of asset changes to recalculate the cumulative residual value. COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT
TL;DR: The paper proposes a combination of two methods: the Net Present Value Method and the Earned Value Method – to control the risk of not achieving the targeted value of long-term projects.
Abstract: The paper proposes a combination of two methods: the Net Present Value Method and the Earned Value Method – to control the risk of not achieving the targeted value of long-term projects The method is capable, like the Earned Value Method, to forecast future financial overruns ahead of time and to warn the project manager long before the event itself occurs so that the project manager has time to handle the problem On the other hand, the proposed method is able, like the Net Present Value, to take the time value of money into account
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the origins and application of E.V.A. as a management tool to help to determine its validity both as a tool for investors and managers.
Abstract: Economic Value Added has been discussed as a financial metric since its creation by Stern Stewart & Co. in the 1980s. Closely tied to value investing, which was pioneered by Benjamin Graham in the late 1920s and early 1930s, E.V.A. has been applied both as a tool for valuation by investors and as a tool for managers to measure the creation of value. While including and allowing for the cost of capital in its calculation, E.V.A. also integrates the present value of future cash flows. This paper discusses not only the origins and application of E.V.A. but also explores the stock prices over seven years of ten companies who had the greatest Market Value Added (the sum of the present value of expected future E.V.A.) and the ten companies who returned the lowest M.V.A. as described by James L. Grant in Foundations of Economic Value Added. In addition, two companies who use E.V.A. as a management tool will be explored to help to determine its validity both as a tool for investors and managers. Economic Value Added 4 The Validity of Economic Value Added as a Metric for Determining Intrinsic Value Introduction There is a constant need for investment managers and individual investors alike to determine companies that will maximize the wealth of their shareholders. Likewise, managers within companies are always looking for ways to better evaluate their decisions in regards to capital expenditures, investments, and many other factors that go into the ever-changing, fluid process of providing owners with their required rate of return. Evaluating the financial strength of a company, while involving many set principles of finance, is viewed as more as an art than a science. As such there are many different ways that an investment manager, individual investor, or a company’s management can view the financial statements of a particular company along with its ratio analysis. While financial ratio analysis is certainly valid and useful when viewed through cross-sectional (comparing a firm to other firms within the same industry) and time series analysis (comparing a firm’s progress over time), there are differences between the accounting figures that a financial statement provides and the reality of a company’s financial activities. Accounting principles, while necessary for consistency, rely on historical costs, and as such are not necessarily accurate to the real costs of a company. The result of this is that many companies that appear to be profitable according to accounting standards are in reality destroying wealth. In his 1995 Harvard Business Review Article “The Information Executives Truly Need,” Drucker states, “What we call profits, the money left to service equity, is usually not profit at all. Until a business returns a profit that is greater than its cost of capital, it operates at a loss. Never mind that it pays taxes as Economic Value Added 5 if it had a genuine profit. The enterprise still returns less to the economy than it devours in resources...Until then it does not create wealth; it destroys it” (as cited in Shapiro, 2007, p. 79). These concepts of creating wealth and identifying value resulted in the creation of the financial performance metric of Economic Value Added. Background Value Investing was pioneered by Benjamin Graham who in 1934 published the book “Security Analysis” along with David Dodd. Graham also published “The Intelligent Investor” in 1949. These two publications have impacted countless modern investors including perhaps the most famous investor of the modern era, Warren Buffet. However, Graham did not always enjoy success. In the late 1920s, Graham managed several millions of dollars. Of this investment portfolio, $2.5 million was invested in stocks and bonds. Graham held a long position on these investments, hoping that they would increase in price. In addition to the $2.5 million that Graham had invested in a long position, he also held a short position for the same amount. Also, there was $4.5 million dollars that Graham had invested in a long position, utilizing margin for much of this investment. The risky portfolio that Graham managed incurred significant losses in the stock market crash of 1929 and 70% of his investment was lost between the years 1929 and 1932. However, as stock prices continued to fall, Graham noticed that one third of stocks were trading at values less than their share of the companies net current assets. This undervaluing of stock prices became the foundation of value investing and helped Graham earn 17% annualized between the years 1929 and 1956 (this included the three year period when the market crashed and Graham’s investments lost 70% of their value) (Grant, 2007, p. 112). Economic Value Added 6 While the main tenant of value investing is rather straightforward, finding stocks that are prices at below their value, there are different schools of thought as to what the definition of value is. The traditional approach to finding the intrinsic value of a company is a calculation of the present value of a firm’s future free cash flows (Harper, 2008). Free cash flow is calculated as: Net Income + Amortization and Depreciation Changes in Working Capital Capital Expenditures Free Cash Flow This calculation of cash flow is a better metric than that of Net Operating Profit After Tax which will be discussed below. Once free cash flows have been forecasted into the future, they must be discounted to the present value. Financial theory supports the belief that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar received in the future because of the fact that an amount of money can be invested and earn interest. In the same way, money or cash that is to be received in the future must be discounted to find a present value. There are two difficulties or inconsistencies that can arise when calculating the present value of the future free cash flows of a company. The first is that there can be different forecasts of a company’s future free cash flows. Secondly, those future free cash flows could be discounted at different rates by different investors. For example, Investor A may require a rate of return of 10%. Investor B may require a rate of return of only 5%. For simplicity’s sake one might assume that the future value of the investment is forecasted to be $1,000 in one year. The greatest amount that Investor A would be willing to pay for Economic Value Added 7 the investment would be $909.09. According to the same information, Investor B would be willing to pay a maximum of $952.38 Calculation: Investor A: 1,000/(1+10%) or 1,000/1.10 = 909.09 Investor B: 1,000/(1+5%) or 1,000/1.05 = 952.38 According to these figures, if the particular investment being discussed were priced at $925.00, Investor B would think that the investment was under priced and therefore be willing to purchase it. In contrast, Investor A would see the investment as overpriced as it would not give him or her the required rate of return. This simplistic example shows some of the difficulty or inconsistencies of calculating the present values of the future cash flows. It is also important to note that in the given example, there is an assumption that both investors calculated the future free cash flows in the same way; the only place that they differed was with their required rate of return. This will certainly not always be the case. The second method for calculating the intrinsic value of a company is the Economic Profit Approach which is calculated as follows: Intrinsic Value = Invested Capital + Present Value of Future Economic Profits These economic profits represent the remaining profits after the cost of capital has been taken into account (Harper, 2008). In an interview with Money’s Eric Schurenburg, Christopher Browne discussed his thoughts on value investing and its practicality and successful track record. Browne, who is the author of “The Little Book of Value Investing,” follows Graham’s principle of buying cheap stocks in managing the three mutual funds of Tweedy Browne, which were Economic Value Added 8 founded by his father. He mentions that low price to earnings and price to book ratios can indicate that a company is trading below its intrinsic value and is in a position in which it provides a greater degree of safety and return (as cited in Schurenburg, 2008, pp. 76-77). The Price to Earnings, or P/E, ratio of a stock is calculated by dividing the price per share of a stock by the earnings per share of a stock. Historically, Price to Earnings ratios have hovered around 15 indicating that each dollar of earnings results in an average price of $15. Therefore, a company with $3 of Earnings Per Share would, according to the average, sell for around $45. If a company sells for $90 but only produces $3 of earnings per share, its Price to Earnings Ratio would be 30 and could be an indication that a stock is overpriced. In contrast, if a company’s stock is selling for $30 per share and is able to produce earnings per share of $3, its Price to Earning ratio of 10 could indicate that the stock is under-priced. The second financial metric that Browne mentions in his interview is the Price to Book Ratio. The metric is calculated by dividing a company’s price per share by the book value of the company. Book value is defined as the assets of a company minus its liabilities, this is also known as Owner’s Equity (Little, 2008). While by itself, a low Price to Earnings or Price to Book ratio does not guarantee that a stock is under-valued, these metrics can be used as a screening tool to find potential value stocks to invest in. Another important aspect of value investing that Browne mentions is the idea of patience. Value investing is typically a long-term investment strategy. Rather than looking for a company that is small and has vast future growth potential, value investors are interested in finding under-priced stocks and then must be willing to wait for them to correct and be accurately priced in the capit
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that such a definition is misleading and, instead of creating more transparency and robustness, it could end up in creating more confusion, and propose a new definition for market consistent embedded value (MCEV) instead of the present value of future profits.
Abstract: Since the beginning of the development of the so-called embedded value methodology, actuaries have been using the present value of future profits as yardstick when valuing life insurance activities. However, using profits as a fundamental input is subject to criticism because profits are no actual cash flows. In an attempt to create more transparency and robustness the CFO forum (2008) has set a definition for market consistent embedded value (MCEV). Nevertheless, this definition refers again to the present value of future profits. In this note we show that such a definition is misleading and, instead of creating more transparency, it could end up in creating more confusion.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that using profits as a fundamental input is subject to criticism because profits are no actual cash flows and instead of creating more transparency, it could end up in creating more confusion.
Abstract: Since the beginning of the development of the socalled embedded value methodology, actuaries have been using the present value of future profits as yardstick when valuing life insurance activities. However, using profits as a fundamental input is subject to criticism because profits are no actual cash flows. In an attempt to create more transparency and robustness the CFO forum (2008) has set a definition for market consistent embedded value (MCEV). Nevertheless, this definition refers again to the present value of future profits. In this note we show that such a definition is misleading and, instead of creating more transparency, it could end up in creating more confusion. 12
TL;DR: A conceptual model is developed, grounded in the resource-based theory, which analyzes the complementarity of Internet resources and e-Business capabilities as source of business value, and shows that Internet resources per se are not positively related to business value and that internal e- business capabilities have a positive significant impact on business value.
Abstract: In recent years, much debate about the value of e-Business and information technology (IT) has been raised. Although the macro-level effect of IT and e-Business is undisputed, a question remains on whether eBusiness can provide differential benefits to individual firms. In this sense, there is a need to further investigate whether and how e-Business creates value. To respond to this challenge, this paper develops a conceptual model, grounded in the resource-based theory, which analyzes the complementarity of Internet resources and e-Business capabilities as source of business value. This model posits three relationships: Internet resources and business value, internal e-Business capabilities and business value, and the complementarity of Internet resources and internal e-Business capabilities. To test hypotheses, a sample comprising 1,010 Spanish firms is employed. The results show that, as hypothesized, Internet resources per se are not positively related to business value and that internal e-Business capabilities have a positive significant impact on business value. In addition, the results offer support for the complementarity of Internet resources and internal e-Business capabilities as source of business value.
TL;DR: In this paper, a measure for determination of a relation which occurred between market value of a particular entity and its book value was highlighted, with determination of the intensity and direction of correlative dependencies which occur between the variables.
Abstract: That maximization of an entity’s value is the main goal of business activity. Increasing of market value in companies is treated as equivocal with maximization of the owners’ finance. During empirical investigations a measure for determination of a relation which occurred between market value of a particular entity and its book value was highlighted. Analysis of dependencies which occurred between market values in a particular entity and the value of resource capital at the disposal of this entity was extended with determination of the intensity and direction of correlative dependencies which occur between the variables. Book value of equity was assumed as a independent variable (X) while its market value as a dependent variable (Y).