THE BARATELLI INSTITUTE · Mentoring at Scale
SECTOR MULTIPLES BENCHMARK

What does your business trade for?

Thirty-plus sectors. EV/EBITDA and EV/Revenue ranges. Recent precedent transactions. Calibrate your expectations before you take the call from the banker.

YOUR LOOKUP
1
Pick sector
2
Profile
3
Multiples & precedents
STAGE 1 OF 3

Find your sector

Pick the closest match. If your business is a hybrid, pick the dominant revenue source.

STAGE 2 OF 3

Your business profile

Profile inputs adjust the multiple within the sector range.

$
In millions ($M).
$
In millions ($M). Adjusted EBITDA — owner comp normalized.
STAGE 3 OF 3 · YOUR PERSONALIZED VALUATION RANGE

Sector multiples

Estimated value range
...
—

Recent precedent transactions in your sector

TransactionYearEVEV/EBITDANotes

What's driving your multiple within the range

Levers to move your multiple up

FOR BUYERS — PAIRS WITH THE BUSINESS BUYER'S GUIDE
Business Buyer's Guide · SBA Financing · Asset vs. Stock Sale · Working Capital Peg · §382 NOL
Multiples sanity-check whether you're paying a price the bank will lend against. The Business Buyer's Guide is the umbrella playbook covering search, LOI, QofE, deal structure, financing, and the 100-day operating plan. Run all five buyer tools before the LOI: Multiples (this tool, for valuation discipline), SBA Financing (for the underwriting stack), Asset vs. Stock Sale (for the structure), Working Capital Peg (for the closing-day cash math), §382 NOL (for the tax-attribute valuation). Subscribe to the library →
FROM THE LIQUIDITY EVENT PLAYBOOK

Get the full pre-sale planning roadmap by email.

Includes: 8 planning mechanisms (QSBS, F-reorg, residency, charitable substitution, working capital, RWI, escrow management, earnout structuring), the 270-day pre-sale checklist, and the full state-by-state tax planning matrix.

Multiple ranges are educational estimates derived from public-market data, recent M&A precedents, and practitioner experience. Actual transaction multiples vary by buyer type, deal structure, market timing, deal-specific synergies, due diligence outcomes, and strategic premium. This tool is not a valuation opinion. Engage a qualified business appraiser, investment banker, or M&A advisor for transaction-grade valuation work.
WANT THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND THIS TOOL?
This calculator is one chapter of Private Equity Reference Guide.
The tool gives you the answer. The guide gives you the argument — the case law, the worked examples, the negotiation playbook, the cross-check tables, the exception cases. Read the chapter and you can defend your number to a board, a buyer, an examiner, or a counterparty.
The methodology behind this calculator is in Ch 18 Quality of Earnings & Valuation of the reference guide.
See the Guide → Browse all 22 guides
PROFESSIONAL DISCLAIMER · PLEASE READ

Educational and informational purposes only. This calculator and any output it produces are intended solely for general educational and decision-support purposes. They do not constitute investment, tax, legal, accounting, appraisal, lending, insurance, or any other professional advice, and they do not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, accountant-client, or advisor-client relationship of any kind.

Estimates based on your inputs. All results are estimates derived from the data and assumptions you provide. Tax law, accounting standards, regulations, market conditions, and the specific facts of your situation can materially change the answer. The Baratelli Institute, its affiliates, and any co-branding professional make no warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, or fitness for any particular purpose, and disclaim all liability for decisions made in reliance on the output.

Consult your own qualified professionals. Before acting on anything calculated here, consult your own attorney, CPA, financial advisor, appraiser, lender, or other qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction who has reviewed your specific facts and applicable current law. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher of practitioner reference material. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, law firm, accounting firm, appraisal firm, or lender.

Co-branded versions: If a professional advisor's name and contact information appear on this tool, that advisor has elected to make the tool available to clients as a courtesy. Inclusion of an advisor's name does not constitute the advisor's endorsement of any specific result, nor does it transfer professional responsibility for the underlying methodology to that advisor. The disclaimer above applies regardless of co-branding.