Cost of Capital Resource Center

U.S. ERP Recommendations | Infographics | Cost of Capital Products | Webcasts and Videos | Insights

From valuing individual securities or capital projects to evaluating M&A, estimating cost of capital is one of the most important decisions that corporate finance professionals make. Duff & Phelps is the leading global independent valuation services firm and a trusted expert on estimating cost of capital. For over 20 years, our professionals have published books, created studies, provided recommendations and built tools to help businesses and valuation professionals estimate cost of capital.

Duff & Phelps regularly hosts events and provides insights on current topics impacting cost of capital assumptions and demos of new products. Our thought leaders aim to help clients when estimating cost of capital. Explore their expert analysis and opinions on latest trends.

Our experts, Carla S. Nunes, CFA and James P. Harrington discussed the impact of COVID-19 on global financial markets and cost of capital assumptions one year after the outbreak before a live audience of 730 people. Throughout the webinar, they polled attendees on the valuation and cost of capital related topics.

View the results of the polling questions here.

U.S. Equity Risk Premium Recommendations

Duff & Phelps regularly reviews fluctuations in the global economic and financial market conditions. These reviews warrant a periodic reassessment of the equity risk premium (ERP) and the accompanying risk-free rate and key inputs used to calculate the cost of equity capital in the context of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and other models used to develop discount rates.

Duff & Phelps Recommended U.S. Equity Risk Premium Decreased from 6.0% to 5.5%, Effective December 9, 2020

View historical equity risk premium recommendations

Cost of Capital in the Current Environment

COVID-19 has generated an unprecedented reaction in both financial markets and economies worldwide, and the resulting uncertainty highlights significant challenges in estimating the cost of capital inputs in the current environment. The infographic below tracks the impact of COVID-19 on some of the financial market and economic indicators used to support the Duff & Phelps recommended U.S. Equity Risk Premium and accompanying Normalized Risk-Free Rate.

Cost of Capital in the Current Environment

Covid-19 Update – April 20, 2021

Click here to view all Cost of Capital infographics.

Cost of Capital Navigator

The Duff & Phelps Cost of Capital Navigator is an online platform that guides you through the process of estimating the cost of capital, a key component of any valuation analysis. You can subscribe to any or all four cost of capital modules, each offering three annual subscription levels–Basic, Pro and Enterprise. Additional products offered by Duff & Phelps include the annual Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation® (SBBI®) Yearbook which provides historical U.S. capital markets data.

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Cost of Capital Products

U.S. Cost of Capital Module

Provides size premia, risk premia, equity risk premia, risk-free rates, betas and industry risk premia that can be used to estimate U.S. cost of capital.

U.S. Industry Benchmarking Module

Provides U.S. industry-level inputs needed to estimate cost of capital and industry-level benchmarks that can be used to augment and support custom analyses.

International Cost of Capital Module

Provides country risk premia, relative volatility factors, equity risk premia and international industry betas that can be used to estimate cost of capital globally.

International Industry Benchmarking Module

Provides global industry-level inputs needed to estimate cost of equity capital, weighted average cost of capital (WACC), and industry-level benchmarks that can be used to augment and support their own custom analyses.