Posts by Andrew Stotz

Overly Optimistic Revenue Forecasts: The #1 Valuation Mistake (and How to Avoid It)

What Is the #1 Valuation Mistake? Overly optimistic revenue forecasts are the most common and damaging mistake in company valuation. Research on the 540 largest companies in Asia shows that analysts miss revenue forecasts by approximately 10% on average, with an estimated 15% optimistic bias. Since revenue is the foundation of every valuation model —…

What to Expect on the CFA Level 3 Exam

Two exams behind you and one of the final CFA hurdles lies ahead in June 2019. As you’re no doubt aware, you only have one chance each year to sit and pass the CFA Level 3 exam. Those of you who are keen to get registered can do so from mid-August of this year. Then…

Questions to Expect in a Case Competition

Part 1 of 6: Revenue Questions Over the years, I’ve been a judge in various case competitions from the CFA Research Challenge to the SCG Bangkok Business Challenge at Sasin. On top of sitting on that side of the ‘bench’, I’ve also racked up thousand hours of presenting experience as a sell-side analyst to fund…

Your CFA Result Is Void: How Not to Fail

Now, the CFA exams are nothing if not popular. Last year, nearly 220,000 candidates sat the CFA exams from hundreds of countries all over the world. (That’s 20,000 more than in 2016.) In June 2017, just 43% of people passed CFA Level 1 and 47% passed Level 2. CFA Level 3 is the only CFA…

What to Expect on the CFA Level 2 Exam

If you’re reading this then you’ve already probably passed your CFA Level 1 exam and are getting ready to register and study for Level 2. (Either that or you’re getting yourself prepared for the long road to CFA charterholder status well in advance of all three!) As discussed in the first blog post of this…