The default length of estimate period is 10 years but it is possible to choose any number of years between 10 and 50 in the Excel-model.
10 estimate years are usually enough, but for example in the mining industry there can be a company that has only one mine which produces output for 30 years and then it's worthless. In such a case it's important that the estimate period is 30 years and after that the company doesn't generate any cash flow. With only 10 year estimate period an analyst couldn't create a decent DCF valuation of the company.
How to increase the length of estimate period
In Excel-model click “Options” in I-main –sheet and choose “Define estimate period”. From there you can define the new length and after pressing “Continue” the model will add new columns to match the chosen length. Please notice that the length has to be between 10 and 50 years.
How to use estimate period less than 10 years
The minimum estimate period in the Excel-model is 10 years. However, if you want to estimate shorter period (e.g. only 5 years) you can modify your model in a way that you actually have to estimate only 5 years period, and forthcoming years work like terminal years.
You can do this by setting all the growth ratios, margins and other parameters on the I-main sheet for the estimate years 6-10 to equal the corresponding values of the estimates year 5. Then you don't have to estimate any further than next five years, and you'll get the same result as the model would have only five years estimate period.