DCF Calculator

Estimate a company's intrinsic value by discounting its projected future free cash flows back to today — with per-share fair value and a margin-of-safety check.

Current Annual Free Cash Flow

FCF Growth Rate (%/yr)

Projection Years

Terminal Growth Rate (%)

Discount Rate / WACC (%)

Shares Outstanding (optional)

Net Cash − Debt (optional)

Current Price / Share (optional)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a DCF?

A discounted cash flow (DCF) values a company by projecting its future free cash flows and discounting them back to today. The sum is an estimate of intrinsic value — what the business is worth based on the cash it can generate.

What discount rate should I use?

Most analysts use the weighted average cost of capital (WACC), often around 8–12% for established companies. A higher rate means you demand more return and assigns a lower present value to future cash flows.

Is the intrinsic value exact?

No. A DCF is a model, and the output is only as reliable as your inputs — garbage in, garbage out. Treat it as one estimate among several and always apply a margin of safety.

Understanding the DCF Calculator

A discounted cash flow (DCF) calculator estimates what a company is really worth based on the cash it can generate in the future, not its current share price. You enter a starting free cash flow, a growth rate, how many years to project, a long-run terminal growth rate, and a discount rate (usually the WACC). The tool projects each year's cash flow, discounts everything back to today's value, and adds a terminal value for the years beyond your forecast. The result is an intrinsic enterprise and equity value, an optional fair value per share, and a margin-of-safety check against the current price. It is currency-aware and runs entirely in your browser.

How it works

First, the calculator grows your current free cash flow forward one year at a time using the growth rate. Each projected year's cash flow is then discounted back to present value by dividing by (1 + WACC) raised to the year number, because a dollar in the future is worth less than a dollar today. Next it computes a terminal value — the worth of all cash flows beyond your forecast window — using the Gordon growth formula, and discounts that back too. Summing the discounted cash flows and discounted terminal value gives enterprise value. Adding net cash minus debt gives equity value, and dividing by shares outstanding gives intrinsic value per share. Margin of safety compares that to the market price.

FCF_t = FCF_0 × (1 + g)^t PV of each year = FCF_t / (1 + WACC)^t Terminal Value = FCF_n × (1 + g_terminal) / (WACC − g_terminal) PV of Terminal = Terminal Value / (1 + WACC)^n Enterprise Value = Σ PV(FCF) + PV(Terminal) Equity Value = Enterprise Value + (Net Cash − Debt) Intrinsic Value / Share = Equity Value / Shares Outstanding Margin of Safety = (Intrinsic per Share − Price) / Intrinsic per Share (requires WACC > terminal growth rate)

Worked example

Suppose a company has 1,000,000 in current free cash flow, growing 8% per year for 10 years, a 2.5% terminal growth rate, and a 10% WACC. Discounting all ten projected cash flows back to today sums to roughly 8.1 million in present value. The terminal value works out near 22.5 million, which discounts back to about 8.7 million today. Together that is an enterprise value of about 16.8 million. With 100,000 shares outstanding, intrinsic value is roughly 168 per share — so a 130 market price implies a margin of safety of around 23%.

Tips & common mistakes

Always keep your discount rate (WACC) above the terminal growth rate, or the terminal value formula breaks and produces a meaningless number.
Be conservative with growth assumptions — high growth rates compound fast and can wildly overstate value. Sanity-check against the company's history.
Run the model with several scenarios (low, base, high). A range of values is far more useful than a single false-precision number.
The terminal value often drives most of the result, so test how sensitive your answer is to small changes in the terminal growth and discount rates.
Use a margin of safety: only consider buying when the price sits comfortably below your intrinsic estimate, to cushion against bad assumptions.
Use real free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capital expenditure), not net income, and remember a DCF is a guide, not a guarantee.

Reviewed by the TopOpenTools editorial team · Last updated June 2026. These tools provide general estimates for educational purposes only and are not financial, tax, insurance, investment, or medical advice. Verify important decisions with a qualified professional.