Financial Analysis
Comparable Transactions (Comps)
Recent sale prices of similar businesses in the same industry, size range, and geography, used alongside multiples and DCF to triangulate a business valuation.
Recorded sale prices and deal terms from recently closed transactions involving businesses of similar industry, size, and geography. Analysts use comparable transactions to establish market-derived valuation benchmarks, typically expressed as multiples of SDE, EBITDA, or revenue. Transaction databases such as DealStats and BizBuySell aggregate this data. Comps serve as one input in a triangulated valuation alongside income-based methods such as DCF and rule-of-thumb multiples. Data quality depends on sample size, recency, and comparability of the subject business to the transactions in the set. (Also see: Valuation Multiple, SDE, EBITDA, Rule of Thumb.)