by Charles Cheng, CFA

 

 

Some of the world’s most famous investors have emphasized the importance of pricing power for companies they invest in. Warren Buffett has said, “The single most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power” with his partner, Charlie Munger, often echoing this sentiment. Peter Lynch, manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund, has also highlighted the importance of pricing power, saying, “The best companies have a strong brand or a dominant market position that allows them to raise prices without sacrificing sales.”

世界上一些最著名的投資者都強調定價能力對於他們所投資的公司的重要性。華倫·巴菲特曾說過：“評估企業時最重要的決定是定價能力。”而他的搭檔查理·芒格也常表達同樣的觀點。 富達麥哲倫基金經理彼得·林奇也強調了定價權的重要性，他表示：“那些最優秀的公司擁有強大的品牌或主導市場地位，使他們能夠在不犧牲銷量的情況下提高價格。”

 

Pricing power refers to a company’s ability to increase prices without losing customers. This means that the company has a strong brand, a unique product or service, or a dominant market position^註 that allows it to charge higher prices without sacrificing sales. A company with pricing power typically enjoys high gross margins, which is the difference between revenue and the cost of goods sold, expressed as a percentage.

定價能力是指公司在不失去客戶的情況下提高價格的能力。這意味著該公司擁有強大的品牌、獨特的產品或服務或主導市場的地位^註，使其能夠在不犧牲銷售的情況下收取更高的價格。擁有定價權的公司通常享有高毛利率，毛利率是收入與銷售商品成本之間的差額，以百分比表示。

 

Gross margins play a crucial role in determining a company’s value.  This can be illustrated through a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) calculation. A company with high gross margins, thanks to its pricing power, can significantly impact its DCF valuation. 

毛利率在決定公司價值方面起著至關重要的作用。 這可以透過折現現金流 (DCF) 計算來說明。一家毛利率較高的公司，由於其定價能力，可以對其 DCF 估值產生重大影響。

 

When a company has pricing power, it can maintain high gross margins. A higher gross margin means that a company retains more revenue from each sale after covering direct costs. This retained revenue is what ultimately feeds into the company’s operating profits and, eventually, free cash flow. In a DCF calculation, these higher cash flows are discounted back to their present value, resulting in a higher valuation for the company.

當一家公司擁有定價權時，它就能維持較高的毛利率。較高的毛利率意味著公司在扣除直接成本後從每次銷售中能保留更多的收入。這些留存收入最終將轉化為公司的營業利潤，並最終轉化為自由現金流。在 DCF 計算中，這些較高的現金流量被折現回其現值，這就使得該公司的估值更高。

 

Companies that don’t have pricing power see their margins eroded by increasing competition, so you would see their free cash flows decline over time, even if they can retain their capital efficiency on some measures. When this difference widens many periods in the future, the value of the two companies is actually very different, even though on a price to earnings ratio basis in the near term, they may appear similar.

沒有定價權的公司的利潤率會因競爭的加劇而受到侵蝕，因此你會看到他們的自由現金流隨著時間的推移而下降，即使他們可以在某些措施上保持資本效率。當這種差異在未來的許多時期擴大時，兩家公司的價值實際上是非常不同的，儘管在短期內以本益比為基礎，它們可能看起來很相似。

 

Furthermore, even when a company or the economy runs into trouble in the short term, the bulk of the value in this calculation is in the long term, which illustrates how the market has always provided opportunities to acquire valuable assets at attractive prices.

此外，即使一家公司或經濟在短期內陷入困境，計算中的大部分價值都是長期的，這說明市場總是提供以有吸引力的價格收購有價值資產的機會。

 

 

編者加註：除了品牌及獨特的產品／服務外，市佔通常來自技術、專利、通路及規模。　這些要件都造成公司的競爭優勢。　所以嚴格的說，競爭優勢才是議價能力的基礎。　

 

 

This article reflects the personal views of the author and not any firm’s and should not be viewed as an investment recommendation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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