BALANCECHEAT / VALUATION
DCF Calculator for Free Cash Flows
Already have a cash-flow forecast? Enter annual unlevered free cash flows, WACC and perpetual growth to calculate enterprise value and an equity bridge.
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Open the full valuation model
Continue in the full financial model with independent periods, scenarios, adjustments and detailed valuation assumptions.
A direct cash-flow valuation
This calculator serves a different starting point from an operating DCF model: your annual FCFF forecast already exists. Enter the five cash flows directly, then specify WACC, terminal growth, cash and debt. The tool uses the same DCF calculation engine as the full model, with year-end discounting and a terminal value after the fifth year.
Use consistent units across all cash-flow and bridge inputs. The initial numbers are explicitly illustrative. They are neither a forecast for a real company nor live market information. The result changes immediately when an assumption changes.
Present value, year by year
The present value of a year’s cash flow is FCFF divided by (1 + WACC) raised to the year number. With a 10% WACC, 100 received after one year is worth approximately 90.9 at the valuation date. A later cash flow receives a larger discount because investors wait longer and bear more uncertainty.
Enterprise value is the sum of those present values plus the discounted terminal value. Negative explicit cash flows are valid, for example during an investment phase. A negative sustainable terminal cash flow, however, requires careful reconsideration of the business’s long-run economics.
Calculate and challenge terminal value
For perpetuity growth, terminal value = final-year FCFF × (1 + g) / (WACC − g). The terminal value is measured at the end of the last explicit year and must still be discounted to today. Forgetting this final discount can materially overstate enterprise value.
Keep WACC above perpetual growth. A small spread makes value highly sensitive to small changes. The terminal cash flow should represent a sustainable state, with investment, taxes and working capital consistent with the growth rate. A peak year, tax holiday or temporary capex pause is rarely an appropriate perpetual base.
Choose a consistent discount rate
Use a nominal WACC for nominal FCFF and a real rate for real cash flows. Match currency and tax treatment. Unlevered cash flow is discounted at the weighted cost of debt and equity; equity cash flow requires a different rate and a different cash-flow definition.
The expanded DCF workspace builds WACC from cost of equity, after-tax debt cost and market-value capital weights. It also allows an explicit override, so the source of the selected rate is visible rather than hidden in a copied formula.
Move from operations to shareholders
Cash and gross debt create the compact enterprise-to-equity bridge shown here. The full model adds leases, minority interests, pension deficits, non-operating assets, investments and other adjustments, plus shares outstanding. Avoid counting the same asset in both the operating cash flows and bridge.
A negative equity value from the arithmetic should prompt a review of financing claims and distress assumptions. The calculator does not model restructuring options, contingent claims or a distressed waterfall.
When to move to the full model
Use the direct calculator for a forecast supplied by another team or for an initial cross-check. Move to the full model to select arbitrary years, use a valuation date inside a year, model terminal normalization, compare scenarios and inspect WACC-by-growth or WACC-by-multiple sensitivities.
The DCF Valuation Model page starts one step earlier with revenue, margins and reinvestment. Trading comparables provide a market cross-check. Neither replaces a defensible cash-flow forecast; large disagreements are useful signals to investigate assumptions rather than mechanically average outputs.