QUERY GUIDE
FINANCE MENTAL MATH|WALL ST MATH
QUERY GUIDE/FINANCE MENTAL MATH/WSM EDITORIAL
EV / EBITDA Mental Math Shortcuts
By WSM Editorial|How do you estimate EV/EBITDA quickly without a calculator?
"Estimate EV/EBITDA quickly by using round-number anchors, then adjusting for residual differences instead of doing full long-division every time."
— WSM Direct AnswerWhy This Matters in Finance
Multiples are discussed constantly in finance conversations. Rapid multiple intuition lets you challenge market comps and valuation claims before model detail is available.
Worked Examples
EXAMPLE 01
EV is $2.1B and EBITDA is $210M. Multiple?
▸ About 10.0x.
2.1B divided by 210M equals 10 exactly.
EXAMPLE 02
EV is $1.44B and EBITDA is $160M. Multiple?
▸ About 9.0x.
1,440 divided by 160 equals 9.
EXAMPLE 03
Peer trades at 11x on $95M EBITDA. Implied EV?
▸ About $1.045B.
11 times 95 equals 1,045 (in millions).
Common Mistakes
✗Mixing enterprise value and market cap in quick calculations.
✗Rounding denominator and numerator inconsistently.
✗Forgetting to check whether EBITDA is LTM, NTM, or adjusted.
Practice Questions
01.EV is $980M and EBITDA is $98M. Estimate multiple.
02.EBITDA is $120M and comp multiple is 8.5x. Implied EV?
03.EV moves from $1.5B to $1.65B on flat EBITDA of $150M. New multiple?
04.EBITDA falls from $110M to $100M at constant EV of $900M. Multiple change?
05.A 9x multiple on $72M EBITDA implies what EV?
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How Wall St Math Helps
Wall St Math helps you internalize multiple arithmetic with timed prompts so valuation conversations stay smooth, fast, and numerically consistent.