Would you rather buy a company with 4x, 5x, and 6x EV/EBITDA multiples for 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively, or 6x, 5x, and 4x?

Published On - December 21, 2022

Josh Corporate Banking / Commercial Banking / Private Debt, Corporate Development, Financial Modeling, FP&A, Investment Banking, Private Equity

We would prefer to buy the company with 6x, 5x, and 4x EV / EBITDA. Since enterprise value is constant, a declining multiple means that EBITDA is growing, since EBITDA in the denominator. EBITDA is declining in the other example, so we would prefer a company with growing EBITDA.