What Is the Dividend Discount Model?

The dividend discount model (DDM) is a quantitative method used to predict the price of a company's stock based on the theory that its present-day price is worth the sum of all of its future dividend payments when discounted back to their present value.

The DDM attempts to calculate the fair value of a stock irrespective of the prevailing market conditions. It takes into consideration dividend payout factors and the market's expected returns.

If the value determined by the DDM is higher than the current trading price of shares, then the stock is underval𝓡ued and qualifies for a buy, and vice versa.

Understanding the DDM

A company produces goods or offers services to earn profits. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cash flow earned from such businesไs activities determines its 🥃profit, which gets reflected in the company’s stock prices.

Companies also make dividend payments to stockholders, which usually originate from business profits. The DDM model is based on the theory that the value of a company is the present worth of the sum of all of its fut🍰ure dividend payments.

Time Value of Money

Imagine that you gave $100 to your friend as an interest-free loan. ෴After some time, you go to them to collect your loaned ꦍmoney. Your friend gives you two options:

1. Take your $100 now
2. Take your $100 after a year

Most individuals will opt for the first choice. Taking the money now will allow you to deposit it in a 𒐪bank. If the bank pays a nominal interest, say 5%, then after a year, your money will grow to $105. It will be better than the second option where you get $100 from your friend after a year. Mathematically,

$\begin{aligned}&\textbf{Future Value}\\&\qquad\mathbf{=}\textbf{Present Value }\mathbf{^*(1+}\textbf{interest rate}\mathbf{\%)}\\&\hspace{2.65in}(\textit{for one year})\end{aligned}$​Future Value=Present Value ∗(1+interest rate%)(for one year)​

The above example indicates the time value of money, which can be summarized as “Money’s value is dependent on time.”♈ Looking at it another way, if you know the future value of an asset or a receivable,ඣ you can calculate its present worth by using the same interest rate model.

Rearranging the equation above,

$\begin{aligned}&\textbf{Present Value}=\frac{\textbf{Future Value}}{\mathbf{(1+\textbf{interest rate}\%)}}\end{aligned}$​Present Value=(1+interest rate%)Future Value​​

In essence, given any two fa🔥ctors, the third one can be computed.

The dividend discount model uses this principle. It takes the expected value of the cash flows a company will generate in the future and calculates its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:net present value (NPV) drawn from the concept of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:time value of money (TVM).

Essentially, the DDM is built on taking the sum of all future di🙈vidends expected to be paid by the company and calculating its present vღalue using a net interest rate factor (also called discount rate).

Expected Dividends

Estimating the future divide🔯nds of a company can be a complex task. Analysts and investors may make certain assumptions, or try to identify trends based on past dividend payment history to estimate f🍒uture dividends.

One can assume that the company has a fixed growth rate of dividends until 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:perpetuity, which refers to a constant stream of identical cash flows for an infinite amount of time with no end date. For example, if a company has paid a dividend of $1 per share this year and is expected to maintain a 5% growth rate for dividend payment, the next year’s dividend is expected to be $1.05.

Alternatively, if one spots a certain trend—like a company making dividend payments of $2.00, $2.50, $3.00, and $3.50 over the last four years—then an assumption can be made ab⛎out this year’s paym♈ent being $4.00. Such an expected dividend is mathematically represented by (D).

Discounting Factor

Shareholders who invest their money in stocks take a risk as their purchased stocks may decline in value. For this risk, they expect a return/compensation. Similar to a landlord renting out their property for rent, the stock investors act as money lenders to the firm and expect a certain rate of return. A firm's cost of equity capital represents the compensation the market and investors demand in exchange for owning the asset and bearing the risk of ownership.

This rate of return is represented by (r) and can be estimated using the 澳洲幸运5开奖号▨码历史查询:Capital Asset Pricing Model (C💦APM) or the Dividend Growth Model. However, this rate of return can be realized only when an investor sells their shares. The required rate of return can vary due to investor discretion.

Companies that pay 📖dividends do so at a certain annual rate, which is represented by (g). The rate of return minus the dividend growth rate (r - g) represents the effective discounting factor for a company’s dividend. The dividend is paid out and realized by the shareholders.

The dividend growth rate can be estimated by multiplying the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:return on equity (ROE) by the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:retention ratio (the latter being the opposite of the dividend payout ratio). Since the dividend is sourced from the earnings generated by ♕the company, ideally it cannot exceed the earnings.

The rate of return on the overall stock has to be above the rate of growth of dividends for future years. Otherwise, the model may ꦬnot function properly and lead to results with negative stock prices that are not possible in reality.

DDM Formula

Based on the expected dividendꦿ per share and the net discounting factor, the formula for valuing a stock using the dividend discount model is mathemati꧟cally represented as:

$\begin{aligned}&\textit{\textbf{Value of Stock}}=\frac{\textit{\textbf{EDPS}}}{\textbf{(\textit{CCE}}-\textbf{\textit{DGR})}}\\&\textbf{where:}\\&EDPS=\text{expected dividend per share}\\&CCE=\text{cost of capital equity}\\&DGR=\text{dividend growth rate}\end{aligned}$​Value of Stock=(CCE−DGR)EDPS​where:EDPS=expected dividend per shareCCE=cost of capital equityDGR=dividend growth rate​

Since the variables used in the formula include the dividend per share and the net discount rate (represented by the required rate of return or cost of equity and the expected rate of div𝄹idend growth), t꧂he value comes with certain assumptions.

Since dividends, and their growth rate, are key inputs to the formula, the DDM is believed to be applicable only to companies that pay out regular dividends. However, it can still be applied to stocks that do not pay dividends by making assumptions about what dividend they would have paid otherwise.

DDM Variations

Theꦦ DDM has many variations that dif💧fer in complexity.

1. While not accurate for most companies, the simplest iteration of the dividend discount model assuᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚmes zero growth in the dividend, in which case the value of the🌃 stock is the value of the dividend divided by the expected rate of return.

2. The most common and straightforward calculation of a DDM is known as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Gordon growth model (GGM), which assumes a stable dividend growth rate. It was named in the 1960s after American economist Myron J. Gordon.

This model assumes a stable growth in dividends year after year. To find the p♉rice of a dividend-paying stock, the GGM takes into account three variables:

$\begin{aligned}&D = \text{the estimated value of next year's dividend}\\&r = \text{the company's cost of capital equity}\\&g = \text{the constant growth rate for dividends, in perpetuity}\end{aligned}$​D=the estimated value of next y𝔍ear’s dividendr=the company’s꧋ cost of capital equityg=the constant growth rate for&🍷nbsp;dividends, in perpetuity​

🌸Using theౠse variables, the equation for the GGM is:

$\text{Price per Share}=\frac{D}{r-g}$Price per Share=r−gD​

3. A third variant exists as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:supernormal dividend growth m🎃odel, which takes into account a period of high growth followed ♕by a lower, constant growth period.

During the high growওth period, one can take each dividend amount and discount it back to the present period. For the constant growth period, the calculations follow the GGM model. All such calculat🐼ed factors are summed up to arrive at a stock price.

Examples of the DDM

Assume Company X paid a dividend of $1.80 per share this year. The company expects dividends to grow in perpetuity at 5% per year, and the company's cost of equity capital is 7%. The $1.80 dividend is the dividend for this year and needs to be adjusted by the growth rate to find D₁, the estimated dividend for next year♛. Thi♉s calculation is:

D₁ = D₀ x (1 + g)

D₁ = $1.80 x (1 + 5%)

D₁ = $1.89

Next, using the GGM (variant two above), Company X's price per share is calculated as follows:

Price per share = D(1) / (r - g)

Price per share = $1.89 / ( 7% - 5%)

Price per share = $94.50

A look at the dividend payment history of leading American retailer Walmart Inc. (WMT) indicates that it paid out annual dividends of $2.08, $2.12, $2.16, $2.20, and $2.24, between 2019 and 2024 in chronological order.

One can see a pattern of a consistent increase of 4 cents in Walmart's dividend each year, which equals an average growth of about 2%. Assume an investor has a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:required rate of return of 5%. Using an estimated dividend of $2.28 at the beginni꧃ng of 2024, the investor would use the div🍨idend discount model to calculate a per-share value of $2.28/ (.05 - .02) = $76.

Shortcomings of the DDM

Whi🌱le the GGM method o🅘f the DDM is widely used, it has well-known shortcomings.

• The model assumes a constant dividend growth rate in perpetuity. This assumption is generally safe for very mature companies t🔯hat﷽ have an established history of regular dividend payments.

However, DDM may not be the best model to value newer companies that have fluctuating dividend growth rates꧃ or no dividends at all. One can still use the DDM on such compan𒆙ies, but with more and more assumptions, the precision decreases.

• The second issue with the DDM is that 🦩the output is very sensitive to the inputs. For example, in the Company X exampl🐻e above, if the dividend growth rate is lowered by 10% to 4.5%, the resulting stock price is $75.24, which is more than a 20% decrease from the earlier calculated price of $94.50.

• The model also fails when companies have a lower rate of return (r) compared to the dividend growth rate (g). This may happen when a company continues to pay dividends even if it is incurring a loss or relatively lower earnings.

Using the DDM for Investments

All DDM variants, especially the GGM, can value a share regardless of current market conditions. The DDM also aids in making direct comparisons of companies, even those in different industries.

Investors who believe in the underlying principle that the present-da✃y intrinsic value of a stock is a representation of its discounted value of future dividend payments can use the DDM to identify overbought or oversold stocks.

If the calculated value is higher than the current market price of a share, it indicates a buying opportunity as the stock is 𒐪trading below its fair value as determined by the DDM.

However, one should note that the DDM is just one quantitative tool available in the big universe of stock valuation tools. As with any other valuation method used to determine the intrinsic value of a stock, one can use the DDM in addition to the several other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:commonly foll🙈owed stoc൩k valuation methods.

Since it requires lots of assumptions and p🌸redictions, it may not be 🙈the sole best way to make investment decisions.

The Bottom Line

The dividend discount model can help investors pic🥀k stocks, by helping them to determine whether a stock is overbought or oversold, even when comparing investments across different sectors.

The model is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best used for stocks with a long divid💫end history and is not as suitable for ones with a short dividend history or no dividend history at all. As with any investment, a multitude of factors should be ev🦹aluated before finalizing a decision to buy or sell a stock.