Company Valuation Case Studies
Direct Answer
Company valuation case studies trace how a specific company's market capitalization changed over a multi-year period, decomposing the change into revenue growth, margin trajectory, share count, and multiple change. Every number is sourced to a primary filing. The analysis teaches the four-component framework by applying it to a real, resolved outcome.
What These Case Studies Teach
A company's market cap on any given day is the product of earnings per share and the price-to-earnings multiple the market assigns. Over a multi-year period, that product changes for four distinct reasons. Understanding which reason dominated which phase of a historical outcome is more useful than reading a summary that says the stock "went up" or "got re-rated."
The four-component framework applied in every case study:
- Revenue growth: top-line expansion, and which segments drove it
- Earnings growth as a share of revenue: margin trajectory and operating leverage
- Share count change: dilution from equity compensation, or reduction from buybacks
- Multiple change: P/E or P/S expansion or compression, and the narrative conditions that accompanied it
Each case study ends with a "Practical Lesson" section that distills what the four components tell a forward-looking analyst.
Available Case Studies
- How NVIDIA's Valuation Changed 2016-2026
A ten-year primary-source analysis of NVIDIA's market cap journey from approximately $57.5B to approximately $5.25T. Revenue grew 43x (FY16 $5.01B to FY26 $215.94B). Net income grew 196x. Data Center grew from a small segment to 78% of revenue. The P/E multiple compressed from 54.7x in FY16 to approximately 33x in FY26 despite the AI narrative. Six distinct phases with primary sources for every figure. Data as of September 5, 2026.
How Case Studies Are Sourced
Every financial figure in a Swoopr company valuation case study traces to a named primary document:
- Annual revenue, net income, segment data, and share count from SEC Form 10-K
- Quarterly data from SEC Form 10-Q
- Market capitalization approximations from public market data with the source date stated
- Earnings call and investor presentation details from official company materials
Analyst estimates, news articles, and secondary summaries are not used as financial sources. Each case study lists its complete references in a dedicated section.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a company valuation case study cover?
Each case study covers a defined multi-year period and traces four components of market cap change: revenue growth, earnings growth as a share of revenue (margin trajectory), share count change (dilution or buybacks), and multiple change (P/E or P/S expansion or compression). Every figure is sourced to a named SEC filing or official investor document.
Why decompose market cap change into four components?
Because the four components answer different questions about the business and the market's reaction to it. Revenue growth tells you about demand. Earnings growth relative to revenue tells you about operating leverage and cost discipline. Share count tells you about capital allocation policy. Multiple change tells you about narrative and sentiment. A stock that rose 90x on 43x revenue growth and 196x earnings growth tells a different story than one that rose 90x primarily on multiple expansion.
How far back do the case studies go?
The first case study in this category covers NVIDIA from fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2026, a ten-year span from $5.01B in annual revenue to $215.94B. The period is chosen because it spans multiple distinct phases including gaming optionality, data center emergence, a cyclical compression year, and the AI re-rating, making it a useful sequence for studying how market narratives change alongside fundamentals.