Cheap can be expensive

A low multiple can create a comforting sense of safety.

Sometimes it reflects temporary neglect. Sometimes it reflects a business whose future is worse than its past.

The distinction cannot be solved by the multiple alone. We need to understand the economics underneath it: customer value, reinvestment needs, competitive pressure, and the durability of cash flows.

Paying less reduces one kind of risk. Buying a deteriorating asset introduces several others.

Value is not a synonym for statistical cheapness.