A basket of intangibles

Why book value has lost its meaning as a measure of a firm’s intrinsic worth

一篮子无形资产

在衡量企业内在价值时，账面价值为何已失去指标意义

BABY-BOOMERS may recall, perhaps wistfully, how the golden-arched sign outside every McDonald’s restaurant would proclaim how many customers had been served by the chain. As they became adults, the number kept on climbing: 5bn in 1969; 30bn in 1979; 80bn in 1990. Jerry Seinfeld, a wry chronicler of the trivial, was moved to ask: “Why is McDonald’s still counting?” Do we really need to know about every last burger? Just put up a sign that says, “We’re doing very well.”

婴儿潮一代可能还记得（或许还有点怅然若失），从前每家麦当劳餐厅外面的金色拱形标志上都会宣告这家连锁餐厅已经接待了多少名顾客。随着婴儿潮一代长大成人，这个数字不断攀升：1969年达到50亿，1979年300亿，1990年800亿。这让擅长吐槽各种琐事的脱口秀喜剧演员杰瑞·宋飞（Jerry Seinfeld）不禁发问：“为什么麦当劳还在算人数？”我们真的需要知道上一个卖出的汉堡是第几个吗？直接竖个牌子写上“我们生意很好”就行了嘛。

wry

1）If someone has a wry expression, it shows that they find a bad situation or a change in a situation slightly amusing.(表情)哭笑不得的

2）A wry remark or piece of writing refers to a bad situation or a change in a situation in an amusing way.（话语或文章）挖苦的，讽刺的，揶揄的

• The play is a rueful, wry observation about the way we are all subject to the ravages of time...   该剧凄然而讽刺地描述了我们大家是如何被岁月所摧残的。

trivial

• If you describe something as trivial, you think that it is unimportant and not serious.  无关紧要的；不重要的，琐碎的；琐细的

• The director tried to wave aside these issues as trivial details that could be settled later.

• 那位主任对这些问题置之不理，视它们为可以后解决的无关紧要的细节。

• trivial formalities 繁文缛节

The counting stopped. The signs said simply: “Billions and billions served”. If this seems unhelpfully vague, that is how the counting business sometimes is. Many of America’s biggest companies, including McDonald’s, report a negative book value, a gauge of a firm’s net assets. Many more have a book value that is small relative to their market value: their shares look dear on a price-to-book basis. Much of this is down to the complexity of valuing a firm’s assets in the digital age. But the result is that price-to-book is a bad guide to a stock’s true value.

麦当劳后来不再计数了。各家店铺的标志牌上只写着：“已接待千亿计的顾客”。这也许看起来太过模糊，但计数这个事有时就是这样的。包括麦当劳在内，许多美国最大规模的企业的账面价值（衡量一家企业的净资产）都是负值。还有更多企业的账面价值相对于其市值而言较低：即按市净率来看其股价偏高。这主要是因为在数字时代评估公司资产的复杂性造成的，但结果就是市净率不能准确反应股票的真实价值。

vague

1）If something written or spoken is vague, it does not explain or express things clearly.（文字或言语）含糊的，不明确的，不清楚的

• The description was pretty vague.  描述相当模糊。

2）If you have a vague memory or idea of something, the memory or idea is not clear. （记忆或想法）模糊的，不清晰的

• Waite's memory of that first meeting was vague. 韦特对第一次见面的记忆很模糊。

3）A vague shape or outline is not clear and is therefore not easy to see. （外形或轮廓)模糊的，蒙眬的

• The bus was a vague shape in the distance.  远处的公交车只是一个模糊的轮廓。

Stockpickers make a distinction between the price of a share and what it is truly worth. Price is a creature of fickle sentiment, of greed and fear. Value, in contrast, depends on a firm’s capabilities. There are various shorth and measures for this, but true “value” investors put the greatest store by the price-to-book ratio. It is the basis for inclusion in benchmarks such as the Russell value index. Countless studies have shown that buying stocks with a low price-to-book is a winning strategy.

股票高手会区别看待股票的价格和其真正价值。股价反应的是变幻无常的情绪、贪婪和恐惧。而价值取决于公司的实力。对此有各种简单的衡量方式，但真正的“价值”投资者最看重市净率，它是股票被纳入罗素指数等基准指数所需的基础数值。无数研究表明，购买市净率低的股票是一种致胜策略。

fickle

1）If you describe someone as fickle, you disapprove of them because they keep changing their mind about what they like or want. 变化无常的;善变的

• The group has been notoriously fickle in the past. 这伙人过去一直是出了名的善变。

2）If you say that something is fickle, you mean that it often changes and is unreliable.无常的;靠不住的

• Orta's weather can be fickle. 奥尔塔的天气变幻莫测。

But not recently. For much of the past decade, value stocks have lagged behind the general market and a long way behind “growth” stocks, their antithesis. Perhaps this is because, as the industrial age gives way to the digital age, the intangible assets that increasingly matter are not easy to put a value on. 

但近年来情况发生了一些变化。在过去十年的大部分时间里，价值型股票的表现逊于大市，而且远远落后于与之性质相反的“成长型”股票。这也许是因为，随着工业时代让位于数字时代，越来越重要的无形资产却难以估值。

The tangible world is easier. Factories, machines, land and office buildings count as capital assets on a firm’s books, because they will generate profits for many years. It is a fairly straightforward business to come up with a value for them: it is what the firm paid. This value is gradually written off (depreciated) over time to reflect wear and tear and obsolescence.

有形资产则更容易估值。工厂、机器、土地和办公楼在公司账面上算作资本资产，因为它们将在多年里产生利润。对这些资产的估值相当直接了当：就是公司为购置它们支付的金额。随着时间的推移，这些价值会逐渐被扣减（即折旧），以反映资产的损耗和淘汰。

obsolescence

Obsolescence is the state of being no longer needed because something newer or more efficient has been invented. 过时; 淘汰

• The aircraft was nearing obsolescence by early 1942. 这种飞机在1942年年初就濒临淘汰了。

• obsolescence cost 废弃成本

• Planned obsolescence 计划过时

• technological obsolescence 技术陈旧

• planned obsolescence 计划报废

Such fixed capital assets, along with current assets (cash, stocks of unsold goods, and so on) typically make up the bulk of book value. The problem is what it leaves out. These days, the value of a firm lies as much in its reputation, its processes, the know-how of staff and relationships with customers and suppliers as in tangible assets. Putting an accounting value on these intangibles is notoriously tricky. 

此类固定资本资产以及流动资产（现金、未售出货物的库存等）通常占到账面价值的大部分。问题在于那些不包含在账面价值中的东西。如今，公司的价值不仅存在于有形资产中，还取决于其声誉、工艺、员工的专业知识，以及与客户和供应商的关系。计算这些无形资产的价值非常棘手。

notoriously

To be notorious means to be well-known for something bad. 声名狼藉的;臭名昭著的;众所周知的

• an area notorious for drugs, crime and violence... 因毒品、犯罪和暴力而臭名昭著的地区

• In Britain, we are notoriously bad at learning foreign  languages because  we have English

  to rely on.  众所周知，英国人学习外语的能力很差，因为我们总是依赖英语。

By their nature, they have unclear boundaries. Not every dollar of R&D or advertising spending can be ascribed to a well-defined asset, such as a brand or patent. That is in large part why, with a few exceptions, such spending is treated as a running cost, like rent or electricity.

就其性质而言，它们不易界定。并非每一美元的研发或广告支出都能归入某个明确定义的资产类别，例如品牌或专利。很大程度上，这就是为什么这类支出会和租金或电费等一道被列为运营成本，仅有少数例外。

Increasingly price is detached from book value. The median price-to-book of S&P 500 stocks is 3.0. But plenty of well-known companies, whose competitive edge rests on brands or patents, have much higher ratios or even negative book values (see chart). McDonald’s has considerable brand value, which is not on its balance-sheet. It also has property assets that have been fully depreciated.

股票价格越来越与账面价值脱节。标准普尔500股票的中位市净率为3.0。但许多依靠品牌或专利建立起竞争优势的知名公司具有高得多的市净率，账面价值甚至为负（见图表）。麦当劳的品牌价值很可观，却没有体现在资产负债表上。它还有很多已完全折旧的不动产。

detach

If you detach one thing from another that it is fixed to, you remove it. If one thing detaches from another, it becomes separated from it.  拆卸;(使)分开;(使)分离

• Detach Element 分离元素 

• Detach components 分离组件

• Detach resource 分离资源

• Detach terminal 可拆离终端机

The effect of mergers is to make things murkier. If, say, one firm pays $100m for another that has $30m of tangible assets, the residual $70m is counted as an intangible asset—either as brand value, if that can be gauged, or as “goodwill”. That distorts comparisons. A firm that has acquired brands by merger will have those reflected in its book value, says Simon Harris, of GMO, a fund-management firm; a firm that has developed its own brands will not. Share buy-backs make things murkier still. For any firm with a price-to-book greater than one, a buy-back will diminish book by proportionately more than it lowers the value of outstanding stock. So price-to-book rises further.

企业合并会让价值更难计算。例如，如果一家公司花费1亿美元收购了另一家拥有3000万美元有形资产的公司，那么这7000万美元的差额将被视为无形资产——要么记作品牌价值（如果可以计算的话），要么记作“商誉”。这会在比较不同企业时造成扭曲。基金管理公司GMO的西蒙·哈里斯（Simon Harris）表示，一家通过合并来收购品牌的公司将在其账面价值上反映出品牌，而开发自有品牌的公司却不会。股票回购就把水搅得更浑了。对于任何市净率大于1的公司而言，回购带来的账面价值降幅将大于流通股价值的降幅。市净率因此会进一步上升。

 murky

1）If you describe something as murky, you mean that the details of it are not clear or that it is difficult to understand. 含糊不清的; 晦涩难懂的

The law here is a little bit murky.该法律此处有点含糊不清。

2）If you describe an activity or situation as murky, you suspect that it is dishonest or morally wrong. 暧昧可疑的;不可告人的

There has been a murky conspiracy to keep them out of power.  有人策划了一个不可告人的阴谋要将他们排斥在权力中心之外。

Notes

婴儿潮 BABY-BOOMERS 

金色拱形标志 golden-arched sign 

擅长吐槽各种琐事的脱口秀喜剧演员 a wry chronicler of the trivial 

看起来太过模糊 seems unhelpfully vague 

股票高手 Stockpickers 

变幻无常的情绪、贪婪和恐惧 fickle sentiment, of greed and fear 

资本资产 capital assets 

流动资产 current assets 

直接了当 straightforward 

研发或广告支出 R&D or advertising spending 

很大程度上 in large part 

产负债表 balance-sheet 

不动产 property assets 

差额 residual 

基金管理公司 fund-management firm 

回购 buy-back 

流通股价值 the value of outstanding stock  

文章整理自：经济学人商论

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