Session 25: Patents and Natural Resource Options @AswathDamodaranonValuation
Session 25: Patents and Natural Resource Options  @AswathDamodaranonValuation
Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this session, we moved on with an examination of option pricing models, and used real options to examine why the rights to non-viable technology can be valuable and why the values of natural resource companies are affected by both the level and variability of commodity prices . As a cautionary note, you are pushing option pricing models to breaking point when using them to value these options, but the key takeaway is that even if you do not value the options explicitly, understanding that they exist can alter how you behave as a business. It is also true that the information that you will need to value many real options will be accessible only if you work at the pharmaceutical or natural resource company, and consequently, you cannot apply it to your company (project), since you will not have that access. I also looked at undeveloped reserves as options, and why using discounted cash flow valuations may under value commodity companies, as well as the value of the option to expand into new businesses.

Slides: nyu.box.com/s/3kls9l4e54zu4w6d5rpslisy5360qhj9
Post class test: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/postclass/session25Ftest.pdf
Post class solution: https://www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/postclass/session25Fsoln.pdf
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Aswath Damodaran |

Session 25: Patents and Natural Resource Options

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