The Engine
The Intelligence
Behind the Signal
6 valuation models, including momentum. 12 quality checkpoints. A 4-tier live update engine that responds to news, filings, and rate moves — every number VInvest shows you has a traceable, auditable source. Here is exactly what it is.
Six Valuation Models
Every Angle. One Defensible Number.
No single model has all the answers. VInvest runs six simultaneously and triangulates them by confidence and applicability.
primary
Discounted Cash Flow
DCF
We forecast 10 years of free cash flow using LLM-extracted assumptions from the company’s own filings, then discount back to today’s dollars. This model rewards businesses that generate real, growing cash.
Best for: stable FCF generators with 5+ years of filing history
Weight: 40–75% · Primary for most tickers
secondary
McKinsey Value Driver
EV / NOPAT
How much is the company’s operating profit worth, given its growth rate and cost of capital? This model anchors on today’s earnings power and the ROIC/WACC spread — the moat quantified in numbers.
Best for: capital-intensive businesses with predictable operating margins
Weight: 25% · Always secondary
Secondary
Peer Multiple
EV / EBITDA
What are the 3 most similar businesses in the same sector trading at? We apply the industry multiple to this company’s normalised EBITDA — grounding the intrinsic in what the market actually pays for comparable businesses.
Best for: companies with 3+ high-similarity comparables available
Weight: 10–35% · Scales with comparable pool quality
Supplementary
Revenue Multiple
EV / Revenue
A simpler anchor: what revenue multiple do comparable companies trade at? Useful as a cross-check against the primary models, especially for high-growth companies with thin but improving margins.
Best for: high-growth companies with thin but improving margins
Weight: 5–10% · Cross-check only
Supplementary
Net Asset Value
NAV
What are the company’s assets worth on a liquidation basis? Sets a floor on intrinsic value. Most relevant for asset-heavy businesses — less meaningful for pure service or software companies.
Best for: REITs, banks, asset-heavy industrials
Weight: Supplementary · Floor check only
Supplementary
Dividend Discount
DDM
For dividend-paying companies, what is the present value of all future dividends? A pure income-based valuation that complements the primary models for mature dividend compounders. Excluded when buybacks dominate shareholder returns.
Best for: 10+ year consistent dividend history with stable payout ratio
Weight: Supplementary · When dividend history is reliable
The six models are triangulated into one central estimate weighted by their applicability to this specific business. When all five primary models agree — the result is not a coincidence. It is a signal.
The Quality Audit
12 Checkpoints. Zero Black Boxes.
The Confidence Score is powered by 12 auditable checks. Every deduction is named. Every pass is documented.
CHECK 01
FCF History Depth
5+ years of free cash flow history for reliable projection?
COST: 10yr history ✓ +0pts
CHECK 02
IS Mapping Rate
% of income statement items mapped cleanly from SEC filings?
COST: 94% mapping ✓ +0pts
CHECK 03
Comparable Quality
How similar are the peer companies? Scored 0–100 on business model similarity.
COST: 4 peers, avg 74% −8pts
CHECK 04
Model Agreement
How tight is the spread between the five primary valuation models?
COST: DCF/NOPAT 5.3% spread ✓
CHECK 05
Gatekeeper Status
Did the company pass all Binary Shield criteria (Z-Score, D/EBITDA, ROIC floor)?
COST: Z-Score 9.9 ✓ +0pts
CHECK 06
Analyst Coverage
3+ covering analysts for earnings anchor validation?
PSMT: 2 analysts −5pts
CHECK 07
Revenue Consistency
Stable or volatile revenue growth over the trailing 5 years?
COST: CoV 0.12 ✓ +0pts
CHECK 08
Margin Stability
Operating margins within ±2% over 5 years?
COST: range 3.4–3.7% ✓ +0pts
CHECK 09
Capital Structure
Debt manageable relative to operating cash flows over the cycle?
COST: D/EBITDA 0.43× ✓ +0pts
CHECK 10
Earnings Quality
Free cash flow consistently close to reported net income?
COST: FCF/NI ratio 0.94 ✓ +0pts
CHECK 11
News Recency
Tier 2 or Tier 3 update run within the last 90 days?
COST: T3 ran Feb 27 ✓ +0pts
CHECK 12
Sector Comp Depth
Comparable sector populated for reliable EV multiples?
COST: 4 peers in universe ✓ +0pts
Example — COST · March 28, 2026
11 of 12 checkpoints passed
✓ STRONG
Comparable pool: 4 peers, avg similarity 74%
−8 pts
Confidence Score
72 / 100 — HIGH
Live Update Engine
Your Institutional Analyst. Working 24/7.
VInvest recalculates in response to events — the same way a real analyst would. Four tiers, each with a different trigger and depth of work.
Tier 1
Daily Sync
Fires: every morning · 06:00 EST
Updates WACC with the current risk-free rate from FRED. Refreshes market price, P/V ratio, and signal state. Checks for any gatekeeper threshold violations. Adds a Tier 1 entry to the Intelligence Feed for every tracked ticker. Fully automated — no analyst input required.
Your intrinsic is current to this morning’s rate environment — without you opening the app.
Tier 2
News Reactor
Fires: within 15 min of material news
Monitors SEC filings, earnings announcements, macro data releases, and significant news events. VInvest AI assesses whether any model input changes. If yes: re-weights the intrinsic and records the exact $/share delta. If no: logs as sentiment noise with no intrinsic change.
The tariff news hit COST at 14:32. By 14:47, intrinsic had been revised −$18/sh with the exact driver documented.
Tier 3
Quarterly Compass
Fires: within 24h of 10-Q or 8-K filing
Full three-statement model rebuild from the latest quarterly filing. Updates revenue, margins, FCF, capital structure, and ROIC. Re-runs all six valuation models. Issues a new Confidence Score. Generates a Tier 3 Intelligence Feed entry with the full delta breakdown.
COST filed Q2 2026. By 06:00 the next morning, the model was rebuilt from scratch — every change documented line by line.
Tier 4
Annual Reset
Fires: within 48h of 10-K annual filing
Complete annual rebuild. Updates the full historical database, re-trains the comparable selection algorithm, rebuilds the 10-year financial history, and resets all base assumptions from first principles. The most comprehensive recalculation in the system — no stale data carried forward.
New year, clean model. Every assumption re-earned from the latest annual filing.
The Intelligence Feed
Every News Event Has a Name.
Not All Names Matter.
VInvest processes 80,000+ news sources daily. Most events don’t move intrinsic value. The ones that do are classified into five strategic buckets — each with a direct impact on a specific model input — before they ever appear in your feed.
A
Moat Threat
Antitrust, patent expiry, price war, market share erosion. Is the competitive moat shrinking?
Affects → RONIC, terminal growth
B
Capital Cost
Credit rating shift, debt refinancing, Fed rate move. Recalculates WACC across your entire watchlist instantly.
Affects → WACC, intrinsic floor
C
Growth Auditor
Guidance revision, supply friction, demand softening. Tests whether market-implied growth rates are still realistic.
Affects → revenue growth, FCF
D
Smart Money
13F filings, insider buys above 10%, buybacks. Why are institutional owners or insiders increasing their conviction?
Affects → sentiment, signal state
E
Asset Integrity
Write-downs, goodwill impairment, litigation, liquidity warnings. Is the balance sheet as strong as the model assumes?
Affects → V-Safety, confidence score
The $CROX 8-K filed yesterday? That’s a Category B event — Capital Cost. Debt/EBITDA dropped to 1.8×. The model re-ran. The new intrinsic is in your feed by 06:00 EST. The balance sheet says the acquisition is digested. The price says it never will be.
See It In Action
A Full Walkthrough — Live on COST
Don’t trust our math — own it.
Free. No account required for the first result card.