Comparable Company Analysis (CCA), Explained
Comparable Company Analysis prices a private company against a group of similar listed companies. It is the most transparent of the market-approach techniques, and the one most often undone by a sloppy peer group. Here is how to do it properly.
There are two ways to build the valuation multiples at the heart of the market approach. One looks at companies trading today on public exchanges; the other looks at companies that were bought in past transactions. The first is Comparable Company Analysis (CCA), often called “trading comps”. The second is Precedent Transaction Analysis (PTA). This article covers CCA.
The logic is simple: if the market is willing to pay 6× revenue for a basket of similar listed businesses, that tells you something about what a comparable private business is worth, once you adjust for the differences. The discipline is in the adjustments.
What is Comparable Company Analysis?
CCA values a company by reference to the trading multiples of publicly listed peers. Because listed companies report financials and have observable market prices, you can compute their EV/Sales, EV/EBITDA and other multiples directly, then apply a representative multiple to your target’s metrics. The output is a market-anchored estimate of enterprise value that reflects what investors are actually paying right now.
CCA gives you a minority, marketable value. Trading multiples come from small parcels of freely traded shares. That makes them a clean read on market sentiment, but it also means they exclude the control premium you would see in an acquisition, which is exactly what PTA captures.
The four steps of a CCA
1. Select the peer group
Everything downstream depends on this. A useful peer is comparable on the dimensions that drive value, not just on a superficial label. Screen on:
- Business model, how the company actually makes money (SaaS, marketplace, hardware…)
- Growth profile, comparable revenue growth rates
- Margin structure, similar gross and operating margins
- Stage & size, broadly comparable maturity and scale
- Geography, the regional market the business serves
2. Extract the base multiples
For each peer, compute the relevant multiples and summarise the set. Take the median rather than the mean so a single outlier does not distort the result.
| Company | Revenue (€m) | EV (€m) | EV/Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer A | 50 | 250 | 5.0× |
| Peer B | 80 | 480 | 6.0× |
| Peer C | 100 | 550 | 5.5× |
| Base multiple (median) | , | , | 5.5× |
3. Apply to the target
Multiply the base multiple by your target’s metric. A 5.5× base multiple on €40m of revenue implies a €220m indicative enterprise value. This is the raw read, not yet a fair value.
4. Calibrate for the differences
Your target is not an average peer. It may grow faster, convert capital less efficiently, hold a weaker market position, and, crucially, be illiquid. Each difference warrants an explicit adjustment, which is exactly the discipline the IPEV guidelines call calibration.
| Factor | Assessment | Adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | Above average | +20% |
| Capital efficiency | Below average | −10% |
| Market position | Neutral | 0% |
| Liquidity (private) | Illiquid | −25% |
| Net adjustment | , | −15% |
A −15% net adjustment turns the €220m indicative figure into roughly €187m, a number you can actually defend.
Strengths and limitations
CCA’s strength is transparency: the inputs are public, observable and current. Its limitations are equally real. Listed peers are often larger and more mature than the private target, truly comparable public companies can be scarce in niche sectors, and trading multiples swing with overall market sentiment, they tell you as much about the mood of the equity market on a given day as about the business itself. The fix is never to lean on a single multiple from a thin peer group.
Where data-driven multiples help. Hand-built peer groups are small and easily skewed. Aggregated, sector-specific multiples drawn from hundreds of companies, filtered by stage and region, give you a far more stable base multiple to start from.
Skip the manual peer hunt.
DealMatrix builds your base multiple from a 20-year dataset spanning 140+ sectors, 7 stages and 6 regions, so your CCA starts from a dependable benchmark, not three hand-picked comps.
Sources & further reading
- Damodaran, A. (2009). Valuing Young, Start-up and Growth Companies.
- IPEV (2025). International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines.
- DealMatrix (2026). Multiples Methodology.