Growth rate

The growth rate is how fast cash flow is assumed to grow in year one, before fading toward the perpetual rate across the horizon. Left blank, Angie derives it from the company's own history rather than picking a number.

Where the figure comes from

It is the slope of a log-linear fit through the company's revenue history, using every year rather than comparing the first to the last. Revenue is preferred over cash-flow growth because free cash flow over a short window is dominated by one-off tax, working-capital and capex items, which makes stable businesses read as though they were shrinking.

• The measured rate is capped at the sector ceiling, which runs from 6 percent for utilities to 20 percent for technology. A company classified as genuine hypergrowth may reach 45 percent.
• A flat or growing company is floored at the terminal rate, so a near-zero trailing figure cannot create a backwards upward fade.
• A genuine decline is kept negative. Flooring it up to the terminal rate would model a shrinking business as growing and manufacture a false discount, so those rows are marked low confidence instead.

One correction sits on top. A company that dipped mid-window and has since recovered shows a negative slope across the whole period even though its latest year grew strongly. That is a trough that recovered, not a shrinking business. When the full-window slope is negative but the most recent year grew, Angie discards the signal entirely and uses a modest sector default, flagged low confidence, rather than projecting a decline that is not happening.