Q3 2009 Business Valuation Data

Sell My Santa Ana, CA Business

We just received the latest Santa Ana, California business valuation data for Third Quarter 2009.

Median Ask Prices for Santa Ana, CA Businesses

If you are interested in trends in business-for-sale asking prices, here are the median asking prices for businesses in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA metro area for the last 11 quarters.

Quarter
Median Ask
Q1 2007
$215,000
Q2 2007
$225,000
Q3 2007
$225,000
Q4 2007
$225,000
Q1 2008
$225,000
Q2 2008
$225,000
Q3 2008
$229,999
Q4 2008
$238,000
Q1 2009
$230,000
Q2 2009
$235,000
Q3 2009
$235,000

As you can see from the chart above, Santa Ana business-for-sale listings in Q3 2009 had a median asking price of $235,000.

That compares to a median ask price of $229,999 in Q3 2008. Since the median ask price for businesses for sale in Santa Ana has gone up year over year, we can conclude that many smaller businesses in Santa Ana are putting off selling.

Revenue Multiples for Santa Ana, CA Businesses

Here is how median revenue multiples are trending in the Santa Ana area, based on BizBuySell.com's quarterly reports.

Quarter
Revenue Multiple
Q1 2007
0.83
Q2 2007
0.84
Q3 2007
0.85
Q4 2007
0.83
Q1 2008
0.83
Q2 2008
0.85
Q3 2008
0.83
Q4 2008
0.79
Q1 2009
0.79
Q2 2009
0.80
Q3 2009
0.78

In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA metro area, companies will typically sell for 0.78 times the selling company's revenues. As the table above indicates, this was the mean revenue multiple for Q3 2009 in this area of the country.

In other words, a business that has revenues of $150,000 might list for $116,781. Keep in mind that this is strictly an average for revenue multiples in the area. Some firms will have higher revenue multiples and others will have lower revenue multiples.

According to BizBuySell.com, the median revenues for its Santa Ana business-for-sale listings was $380,000 in Q3 2009.

To put this in perspective, the Q3 2008 revenue multiple was 0.83 and the median revenue for listed Santa Ana businesses was $360,000.

Cash Flow Multiples for Santa Ana, CA Businesses

The table below shows how cash flow multiples are trending in the Santa Ana area, based on BizBuySell.com's quarterly reports.

Quarter
Median Cash
Flow Multiple
Q1 2007
3.01
Q2 2007
3.03
Q3 2007
3.00
Q4 2007
3.00
Q1 2008
3.01
Q2 2008
3.06
Q3 2008
3.02
Q4 2008
3.01
Q1 2009
2.97
Q2 2009
2.99
Q3 2009
2.99

As you probably know, cash flow multiples are another common way to value a business.

For Q3 2009, the average cash flow multiple for listed businesses in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA metro area was 2.99.

So, a firm with cash flows of $110,000 might list for $329,319. That's only if the firm complies with the local average. The actual distribution on cash flow multiples for a given set of businesses can be quite wide-ranging.

In case you were wondering what typical cash flows are for a business in Santa Ana, BizBuySell.com reports that the median cash flow for Santa Ana area businesses was $95,000 in Q3 2009. In Q3 2008, Santa Ana cash flow multiples averaged 3.02 and the median cash flow was $92,166.

Number of Santa Ana Businesses for Sale in the Dataset

The study data comprised 3439 listings in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA metro area. As such, some of the businesses used to derive the median valuation might be outside of Santa Ana, but they are nearby and so are likely representative of Santa Ana business valuations.

One year ago, in Q3 2008, the BizBuySell.com dataset for Santa Ana spanned 4359 listings. The downward trend in the number of Santa Ana business-for-sale listings is indicative of the current down economy.

Can I Sell My Santa Ana, CA Business Now?

Selling a business now is the right decision for many business owners. That's because it's a great time to sell given the sheer number of buyers in the marketplace right now. Laid-off executives, for example, our turning to entrepreneurship and are actively exploring business-for-sale opportunities. If your business has solid fundamentals and you have a good plan, your next step should be to talk to a professional intermediary who can help you to package up the business for sale and get maximize your business sale price. This helpful tip comes from Domenic Rinaldi, managing partner of Sun Acquisitions, a leading business brokerage firm.

Business Valuations for Santa Ana, CA Businesses

If you are considering buying a business or selling a business and would like to determine how much a business is worth, we recommend the BizBuySell.com Business Valuation Tool. Based on your specific criteria, you can modify the company dataset that creates business valuation estimates. Access to the tool is very reasonable -- costing less than $100.

BizBuySell.com's Quarterly Reports

The BizBuySell Insight Report is a nationally-recognized economic report that tracks trends in the business-for-sale marketplace. If you find these trends interesting, take a moment to visit BizBuySell.com Insights Report for additional information.

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