Aswath Damodaran: A Valuation Expert’s Take on Inflation, Stock Buybacks, ESG, and More

Hi, and welcome to The Long View . I’m Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar. Our guest on the podcast today is Aswath Damodaran. Damodaran is a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and he has been called the dean of valuation. He has written several books on equity valuation, investment management, and corporate finance. This interview was recorded at the Morningstar Investment Conference in April 2023. Background Bio Books by Aswath Damodaran Interest Rates and Inflation “ Inflation and Investing: Is the Genie Out of the Bottle? ” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business. “ In Search of a Steady State: Inflation, Interest Rates, and Value ,” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog , May 6, 2022. “ A Follow Up on Inflation: The Disparate Effects on Company Values! ” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog , May 20, 2022. “ Malaise in Market Will Last Longer if Investors Behave Like It’s the ‘70s: Aswath Damodaran ,” by Nikhil Agarwal, The Economic Times , Sept. 27, 2022. Equity Risk Premium “ Country Default Spreads and Risk Premiums ,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business, Jan. 5, 2023. “ Equity Risk Premiums (ERP): Determinants, Estimation, and Implications—The 2022 Edition ,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business, March 23, 2022. “ Equity Risk Premiums ,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business. Buybacks “ Data Update 7 for 2023: Dividends, Buybacks, and Cash Flows ,” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog , March 8, 2023. “ Aswath Damodaran: The History of Buybacks ,” GuruFocus.com , Aug. 29, 2019. ESG “ The ESG Movement: The ‘Goodness’ Gravy Train Rolls On ,” by Aswath Damodaran, Musings on Markets blog , Sept. 14, 2021. “ Valuing ESG: Doing Good or Sounding Good? ” by Bradford Cornell and Aswath Damodaran, Portfolio Management Research, Fall 2020. “ Professor Damodaran’s Latest ESG Takedown Overlooks One Important Group of Investors ,” by Adam Fleck, Morningstar.com, April 1, 2022. Valuation and Capital Allocation “ Closure in Valuation: Estimating Terminal Value ,” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business. “ My Valuation Journey: Have Faith, You Must! ” by Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern School of Business, June 2020. “ 3 Fund Portfolio: How to Save for Retirement With Just Three Investments ,” by Carla Fried, Forbes , July 15, 2022. Other “ Michael Mauboussin: Finding Easy Games ,” The Long View podcast, Morningstar.com, Jan. 25, 2022. Expectations Investing: Reading Stock Prices for Better Returns , by Michael Mauboussin and Alfred Rappaport. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.