Freelancer.com is preparing an acquisition, and Emma has been required to independently value the shares of...

Transcribed Image Text:

Freelancer.com is preparing an acquisition, and Emma has been required to independently value the shares of the target firm, Xlance. The CEO, in negotiations currently with the investment bank and the target firm, prefers to have this in-house independent valuation as an initial anchor. The target, Xlance, is a startup that grew to have more than a half million users, positioning its site in the top ten largest freelance marketplaces in the world. The acquisition would allow Freelancer.com to expand into new markets and increase its global footprint. The investment bank analysts expect Xlance to increase its sales by 6 percent in the long run. Emma has estimated Xlance sales at about $6.2 million in 2021. Xlance's EBIT is 15% of sales, changes in net working capital requirements are 10% of any change in sales, and capital expenditures equal depreciation expense. Xlance has $1.2 million in cash, $1.2 million in debt, and 100,000 shares outstanding. Similar firms have a tax rate of 24% and a cost of capital (discount rate) of 15%. From Bloomberg, Emma also found out that comparable firms in the industry have on average a P/E ratio of 11 and a P/S ratio of 1.2. What concerns Emma is that financial analysts in the industry do not converge in their expectations of Xlance's growth. A well reputed Toronto-based analyst expects the firm to grow at 10 percent each year for the next 5 years, then continue at 4 percent in the long run. Another reputed technology analyst based in Stockholm disagrees with these growth prospects in the short term and estimates that a slow economy will cut the business expenses for technology altogether. Thus she anticipates Xlance will decrease its sales by 5 percent in the next three years, then by 4 and 2 percent in the next two years. Only then does she estimate that the firm will start increasing its sales, by 3 percent each year in the long run. Value the firm using the P/E multiple and the P/S multiple. Based on the proximity of these values versus the DCF results, which of the growth assumptions do you believe is closer to the overall market expectation? (1 point) What other factors affect the value of the target and should be considered by the CEO? Why isn't the CEO using the present price per share of Xlance as traded on the stock exchange? (1 point) Freelancer.com is preparing an acquisition, and Emma has been required to independently value the shares of the target firm, Xlance. The CEO, in negotiations currently with the investment bank and the target firm, prefers to have this in-house independent valuation as an initial anchor. The target, Xlance, is a startup that grew to have more than a half million users, positioning its site in the top ten largest freelance marketplaces in the world. The acquisition would allow Freelancer.com to expand into new markets and increase its global footprint. The investment bank analysts expect Xlance to increase its sales by 6 percent in the long run. Emma has estimated Xlance sales at about $6.2 million in 2021. Xlance's EBIT is 15% of sales, changes in net working capital requirements are 10% of any change in sales, and capital expenditures equal depreciation expense. Xlance has $1.2 million in cash, $1.2 million in debt, and 100,000 shares outstanding. Similar firms have a tax rate of 24% and a cost of capital (discount rate) of 15%. From Bloomberg, Emma also found out that comparable firms in the industry have on average a P/E ratio of 11 and a P/S ratio of 1.2. What concerns Emma is that financial analysts in the industry do not converge in their expectations of Xlance's growth. A well reputed Toronto-based analyst expects the firm to grow at 10 percent each year for the next 5 years, then continue at 4 percent in the long run. Another reputed technology analyst based in Stockholm disagrees with these growth prospects in the short term and estimates that a slow economy will cut the business expenses for technology altogether. Thus she anticipates Xlance will decrease its sales by 5 percent in the next three years, then by 4 and 2 percent in the next two years. Only then does she estimate that the firm will start increasing its sales, by 3 percent each year in the long run. Value the firm using the P/E multiple and the P/S multiple. Based on the proximity of these values versus the DCF results, which of the growth assumptions do you believe is closer to the overall market expectation? (1 point) What other factors affect the value of the target and should be considered by the CEO? Why isn't the CEO using the present price per share of Xlance as traded on the stock exchange? (1 point)