discounted cash-flow valuation investment & finance definition

A valuation technique that calculates the present value of expected cash flows to arrive at the current value of an asset or investment. One shortcoming of the discounted cash-flow valuation model is that the value it indicates may be drastically different than current prices that can be received in the market. The type of cash flow inputs can vary among dividends (dividend discount model), operating cash flow (present value of operating cash flows), or free cash flow (present value of free cash flows to equity).