DCF, Comps, and Scenarios: Financial Modeling and Valuation

Coursera via Coursera Specialization

Go to class Write review

Details

Go to class

Provider

Coursera Specialization
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Duration & workload

4 weeks, 10 hours a week
Level

Intermediate

Found in

Overview

Google, IBM & Meta Certificates — All 10,000+ Courses at 40% Off

One annual plan covers every course and certificate on Coursera. 40% off for a limited time.

Get Full Access

A financial model is only as valuable as the judgment behind it. Building a spreadsheet that produces numbers is one skill. Knowing which numbers to trust, how assumptions drive outcomes, and how to defend a valuation under scrutiny is another. This program develops both. DCF, Comps, and Scenarios is an intermediate-to-advanced program designed for aspiring and practicing financial analysts, investment professionals, and business strategists who are ready to build, stress-test, and communicate professional-grade financial models. Across 14 focused courses, you will master the core methodologies that drive corporate finance: Discounted Cash Flow valuation, comparable company and precedent transaction analysis, scenario and sensitivity modeling, sales forecasting, project finance, capital structure analysis, zero-based budgeting, and Monte Carlo simulation. You will work with Excel throughout, applying real-world techniques to case studies drawn from companies including NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, WeWork, and Carillion. Every course combines expert instruction with hands-on labs and practical projects that produce defensible, analyst-ready outputs. By the end of the program, you will be equipped to build robust financial models from scratch, evaluate investment decisions with rigor, and communicate your findings clearly to stakeholders and leadership.

Syllabus

Course 1: Financial Statements: Analyze and Apply Key Ratios
Course 2: Financial Modeling with Excel NPV
Course 3: Project Sales: Excel Forecasting Functions
Course 4: Financial Valuation with Excel Models
Course 5: Comps: Valuate Companies Smartly
Course 6: Evaluate and Transform M&A Data for Valuations
Course 7: DCF: Build, Apply, and Evaluate
Course 8: Analyze Financial Sensitivities with Data Tables
Course 9: Model Scenarios: Financial Outcomes
Course 10: Forecast Financials with Monte Carlo Mastery
Course 11: Zero-Based Budgeting: Allocate Expenses Precisely
Course 12: Budgeting & Visualize Financial Variances
Course 13: Analyze Budgets and Capital Structures Confidently
Course 14: Model Project Cashflows with Confidence
Course 15: Model and Analyze Project Finance Viability

Courses

0 reviews
2 hours 7 minutes
View details

Financial Statements: Analyze and Apply Key Ratios is an intermediate course designed for professionals seeking to build foundational skills in financial analysis. This course will empower you to decode the financial health of a business by interpreting its three core financial statements. You will learn to confidently distinguish the unique purpose and time orientation of the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement, understanding when to use each to find the information that matters. Through practical, hands-on exercises, you will move from theory to application. You will use spreadsheet software to calculate and interpret two of the most fundamental financial ratios: gross margin and the current ratio. Using real-world case studies of companies like Apple and Sears, you will see how these metrics reveal a company's core profitability and its ability to meet short-term obligations. By the end of this course, you will have the ability to transform raw financial data from a 10-K report into meaningful insights, a critical skill for any role that requires data-driven business decisions. You will leave the course with a completed financial analysis project, ready to apply your new skills in a real-world context.
0 reviews
2 hours 1 minute
View details

Budgeting & Visualize Financial Variances is designed for professionals who need to translate complex financial data into clear, actionable insights. You will move beyond basic spreadsheets to master the essential skills of variance analysis and data visualization. The curriculum provides a hands-on approach to transforming raw financial data into a dynamic report, empowering you to immediately enhance your financial analysis and reporting capabilities. You will learn to define and calculate key financial metrics, including budget, forecast, and variance. Through practical, step-by-step guidance, you will apply conditional formatting rules to automatically highlight critical information, such as cost overruns or savings. The course uses real-world scenarios to build your skills. By the end, you will be able to build and interpret visually intuitive dashboards that enable managers to make faster, more informed decisions based on at-a-glance financial insights. This course is your next step toward mastering data-driven financial storytelling.
0 reviews
2 hours 33 minutes
View details

Are you ready to elevate your financial forecasting from single-point estimates to a powerful, probabilistic view of the future? This advanced course is designed for financial analysts who want to master Monte Carlo simulation to quantify risk and make more robust, data-driven decisions. You will learn to move beyond basic forecasting by first analyzing historical data to create a range of plausible, scenario-based projections. Through a series of expert-led videos and hands-on exercises, you will learn how to identify the key, uncertain variables in your financial models—like costs and market demand—and define appropriate probability distributions for them. The core of the course is a step-by-step guide to executing a Monte Carlo simulation in Excel, allowing you to generate a full probability distribution of potential financial outcomes, such as EBITDA. You will not only run the simulation but also learn to interpret the resulting probability curve to answer the ultimate business question: "What is the likelihood we will hit our target?" Please note: This course assumes prior completion of training in building and auditing financial models, or equivalent experience in constructing integrated 3-statement models in Excel.
0 reviews
1 hour 54 minutes
View details

Ready to move beyond basic data entry and unlock the predictive power of Excel? This intermediate course, Project Sales: Excel Forecasting Functions, is designed for aspiring financial analysts, business planners, and data-driven professionals who want to build robust financial forecasts. You’ll learn to transform historical sales data into meaningful insights by calculating key performance metrics like Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and moving averages to understand underlying trends. The course dives deep into scenario-based forecasting, a critical skill for strategic planning. You will master the application of Excel’s AVERAGE function for stable, "flat" projections and the GROWTH function for dynamic, "trend-based" scenarios. Through expert-led screencasts, hands-on exercises, and real-world case studies, you will build a complete sales forecast from start to finish. To succeed in this course, you should have a basic familiarity with Excel functions and an understanding of concepts like revenue and sales data. You will leave with the ability to not just calculate the future, but to model multiple futures, communicate your findings, and drive data-informed decisions with confidence.
0 reviews
2 hours 4 minutes
View details

The course "Zero-Based Budgeting: Allocate Expenses Precisely" is an intermediate-to-advanced course designed for finance professionals, department managers, and analysts who want to master a transformative approach to financial planning. This course moves beyond theory to provide a rigorous, hands-on framework for building budgets from the ground up. You will learn to dismantle old assumptions by mastering the critical distinction between fixed and variable costs—the foundation of any precise budget. Through expert-led videos, real-world case studies from companies like Kraft Heinz and Unilever, and interactive scenarios, you will learn to construct a zero-based budget (ZBB) where every dollar is justified and aligned with strategic goals. You will learn to defend your allocations, ensuring that resources flow to the most critical business priorities. By the end of this course, you will possess the skills to drive financial discipline, optimize resource allocation, and implement a budgeting process that fosters accountability and strategic alignment.
0 reviews
2 hours 10 minutes
View details

Analyze Budgets and Capital Structures Confidently is an intermediate course designed for financial analysts, accountants, and business managers aiming to sharpen their financial oversight and strategic decision-making skills. In today's volatile economic landscape, mastering the interplay between budget control and capital strategy is not just a best practice—it is essential for survival and growth. This course provides a hands-on toolkit to move beyond mere reporting and into the realm of true financial analysis. You will learn to perform rigorous budget variance analysis to diagnose the root causes of cost issues and determine whether they stem from pricing pressures, operational inefficiencies, or shifts in business volume. You will then master the art of capital structure modeling in Excel, stress-testing financing scenarios to evaluate their impact on critical debt covenants and overall risk exposure. Grounded in real-world case studies such as the collapse of Carillion and Tesla's strategic financing, each module is designed to be immediately applicable. By the end of this course, you will not only be able to analyze complex financial data but also develop and defend compelling, data-driven recommendations for leadership. For learners looking to further enhance their quantitative skills, this course is a perfect gateway to advanced topics in the Advanced Business Analytics and Financial Modeling and Forecasting specializations on Coursera. Please note: A solid understanding of financial statements (Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet) and proficiency in spreadsheet software is required. No coding is necessary.
0 reviews
2 hours 11 minutes
View details

Analyze Financial Sensitivities with Data Tables is an intermediate course for finance and business professionals looking to move beyond static spreadsheets and embrace dynamic financial modeling. In today’s volatile market, understanding how a single change can impact your bottom line is critical. This course provides a focused, practical deep-dive into one of the most powerful tools in Excel for risk analysis: the one-way data table. You will learn to confidently distinguish between sensitivity analysis and scenario analysis, ensuring you choose the right tool for the right question. Through expert-led screencasts and hands-on activities, you will build and interpret data tables to systematically test how changes in a key variable—like customer acquisition cost or raw material price—affect outcomes like profitability and Net Present Value (NPV). The course culminates in a project where you will identify a project's breakeven point and create a concise, data-driven recommendation for stakeholders. By the end, you’ll be equipped to not only build more resilient financial models but also to clearly articulate the risks and opportunities they reveal.
0 reviews
1 hour 18 minutes
View details

Comps: Valuate Companies Smartly is an intermediate-level course designed for financial analysts, investment professionals, and business strategists seeking to master valuation through comparable company analysis. In a market where corporate value is constantly debated, this course provides the essential framework to move beyond simple formulas and build a rigorous, defensible valuation. You will learn the art and science of selecting a true peer group, gathering the necessary financial data, and calculating key multiples like EV/EBITDA and P/E to establish a credible valuation range. Through real-world case studies—including the WeWork IPO, the Salesforce-Slack acquisition, and the EV transition—you will learn to critically assess analysis outputs, identify and investigate statistical outliers, and justify your conclusions with confidence. This course emphasizes the critical thinking that separates amateur analysis from professional valuation, equipping you to use "comps" not just as a mechanical exercise, but as a powerful tool for strategic insight and investment decision-making.
0 reviews
2 hours 22 minutes
View details

Master the art and science of business valuation in DCF: Build, Apply, and Evaluate. This intermediate-to-advanced course is designed for finance professionals who aim to move beyond theory and build robust, defensible Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) models from the ground up. You will learn to construct a dynamic, modular DCF template in Excel that can be reused across multiple projects, saving time and reducing errors. Through a series of expert-led videos, practical readings, and hands-on labs, you will dive deep into the core drivers of valuation: forecasting unlevered free cash flows, calculating the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), and estimating terminal value. Using real-world case studies, such as the valuation of a high-growth tech firm like NVIDIA, you will learn to apply these concepts in complex scenarios. You will leave this course with a complete DCF model and the confidence to apply it to sophisticated investment appraisal and strategic financial decision-making.
0 reviews
1 hour 14 minutes
View details

In the high-stakes world of mergers and acquisitions, the ability to look beyond surface-level data is what separates a successful deal from a costly failure. "Evaluate and Transform M&A Data for Valuations" is an intermediate-to-advanced course designed for financial analysts who need to master the art of data normalization and contextual analysis. You will move beyond standard valuation techniques to learn how to adjust M&A data for transaction-specific factors, such as control premiums and synergies, ensuring a true "apples-to-apples" comparison. Through a series of case-driven lessons featuring real-world deals like the Microsoft-LinkedIn and Amazon-Whole Foods acquisitions, you will learn to identify and quantify the nuances that impact valuation. The course provides a deep dive into advanced Excel techniques for transforming raw financial data, benchmarking against comparable transactions, and creating strategic data visualizations that uncover hidden insights. You will learn not just the "how" but the "why" behind each adjustment, empowering you to build valuation models that are robust, defensible, and reflective of true market dynamics. By the end of this course, you will be equipped to turn complex M&A data into clear, actionable intelligence.
0 reviews
2 hours 8 minutes
View details

Master the art of investment valuation in this hands-on course on Financial Modeling with Excel. Designed for aspiring financial analysts and professionals, this course moves beyond theory to provide practical skills in valuing cash flows using Excel's powerful NPV and XNPV functions. You will learn to differentiate between periodic and irregular cash flows, understand the critical role of the discount rate, and apply the correct function for precise, real-world financial analysis. By the end of this course, you will be able to build robust capital budgeting models, compare investment opportunities, and make data-driven financial decisions with confidence. This course is essential for anyone involved in financial analysis, project appraisal, or capital budgeting who needs to create defensible valuation models.
0 reviews
1 hour 43 minutes
View details

Financial Valuation with Excel Models is an intermediate course designed for aspiring financial analysts, business students, and professionals seeking to master the core principles of corporate valuation. This course demystifies the valuation process, moving beyond theory to practical, hands-on application. You will learn to articulate the three fundamental valuation methodologies that drive every major corporate finance decision: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Comparable Company Analysis, and Precedent Transactions. The curriculum centers on a practical, hands-on lab where you will use a professional-grade Excel template to perform a DCF valuation on a real-world company. You will learn not just how to input data, but how to understand the story behind the numbers. By analyzing the impact of key assumptions, like the discount rate, you will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to defend your valuation. By the end of this course, you will have the confidence and the practical skills to build a DCF model, calculate enterprise value, and explain your findings, equipping you for success in any entry-level finance role.
0 reviews
1 hour 57 minutes
View details

This intermediate course is designed for finance and business professionals who want to master the critical skill of project finance modeling in Excel. You will learn to construct and analyze a complete cash flow waterfall—an essential tool for assessing the financial viability of large-scale projects. The course moves beyond theory, guiding you through the distinct financial lifecycle of a project, from the initial capital-intensive construction phase to the revenue-generating operating period and subsequent debt repayment. Through hands-on learning and instruction grounded in real-world case studies, such as the Channel Tunnel and the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, you will build a robust model from the ground up. You will learn to project cash inflows, prioritize payments to cover operating expenses and debt service, and determine the cash flow available for equity distributions. By the end of this course, you will have the practical Excel toolkit needed to forecast cash balances, prove a project's solvency, and make confident, data-driven investment decisions, preparing you for demanding financial analysis roles.
0 reviews
2 hours 6 minutes
View details

Model Scenarios: Quantifying Financial Outcomes is an intermediate course for financial analysts and planners who must master "what-if" analysis to create resilient business strategies. In today’s economic climate, a single forecast is insufficient. This course equips you with tools to model and evaluate various potential futures using Microsoft Excel. You will learn to identify key business drivers that differentiate base, best-case, and worst-case scenarios. Through step-by-step video tutorials, you will master Excel's Scenario Manager to build, save, and toggle between different financial outcomes, stress-testing your models against variables such as inflation, price changes, and cost savings. Lastly, you will learn how to generate and interpret automated summary reports, enabling you to communicate the impact of uncertainty to stakeholders with clarity and confidence. For those looking to enhance their financial communication skills, this course serves as a stepping stone to "Present Financial Models: Storyboard to Success" and provides foundational skills for the "Excel Financial Modeling Mastery" path. Please note: Solid experience building financial models in Excel, including dynamic formulas and linking cells is necessary for this course. No VBA or macro knowledge is required.
0 reviews
2 hours 28 minutes
View details

Model and Analyze Project Finance Viability is an intermediate-level course designed for aspiring and current financial analysts, investment professionals, and business strategists who need to master the art and science of project finance. In today's capital-intensive landscape, a gut-feel approach to investment is not enough; you need to build and defend your decisions with data. This course will teach you how to construct a comprehensive, 20-year project finance model from the ground up to assess the long-term viability of large-scale projects. You will move from a blank spreadsheet to a powerful decision-making tool, learning to model complex components like sculpted debt schedules and multi-tiered equity waterfalls. Through hands-on exercises and real-world case studies, you will master the use of scenario analysis to test a project's resilience against market volatility and interpret critical metrics like the Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR). The course culminates in a realistic final project where you will triage a partially broken model, fix its core logic, and deliver a data-driven "go/no-go" recommendation to an investment committee. By the end, you'll not only know how to build a model but how to use it to make defensible, high-stakes investment decisions.