Dividend Discount Model (DDM)
Multi-stage DDM for mature dividend-paying companies. Values a stock as the present value of all expected future dividends. Especially appropriate for financials (JPM, BAC), utilities (DUK, SO), consumer staples (PG, KO), and REITs — where dividends are the primary mechanism of shareholder returns.
Preflight
Run the canonical pre-flight sequence — MCP health probe, ticker resolution, workspace style.md override, memory load, and coverage check. See contracts/preflight.md.
Include the X-Agentii-Trace header on every tool call per contracts/x-agentii-trace-header.md.
Triggers
- dividend discount model {ticker}
- DDM valuation {ticker}
- dividend growth valuation {ticker}
- Gordon Growth Model {ticker}
- multi-stage DDM {ticker}
- income stock valuation {ticker}
- dividend yield analysis {ticker}
- value {ticker} by dividends
- mature company valuation {ticker}
- dividend-based fair value {ticker}
Defaults
| Parameter | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| stages | 3 | Explicit → Transition → Maturity |
| explicit_years | 5 | Years of explicit dividend forecast |
| transition_years | 5 | Years of declining growth |
| terminal_growth | 2.5% | Long-term perpetual growth (GDP proxy) |
Methodology
Retrieval Scope
structured_only — DDM uses dividend history from XBRL + current price + earnings estimates.
Retrieval Strategy
See contracts/retrieval.md for the canonical decision tree; skill-specific retrieval detail is in references/methodology.md.
Temporal Scope
Default lookback: 4 fiscal quarter(s); maximum: 20. The default balances recency against the trend window this analysis requires.
Tool Allowlist
Per frontmatter allowed_tools:
search_xbrl_facts— primary structured financial facts (is_primary default)get_realtime_quote— latest market price for valuation cross-checkssearch_earnings_calendar— EPS actual/estimate/surprise + report dates
Protocol
Step-by-step execution detail is in references/methodology.md.
Output File
Write the final deliverable to {ticker}/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM}_ddm-valuation_{affix}.md.
Output Structure
The deliverable is a structured markdown report written to the path in ## Output File. Full section-by-section template (headings, tables, and field definitions) lives in references/output-structure.md. Required elements:
- Executive Summary — headline conclusions (≤200 words).
- Core analysis sections — per this skill's methodology and analyst modes.
- Data classification — tag findings
[FACT]/[DEDUCTED]/[VIEW]percontracts/snapshot-synthesis.md. - Coverage Gaps & Citations — inline
/v/citations are PRIMARY (immediately after each fact); the bottom Citations section is a non-duplicative roll-up index. - Output frontmatter — emit the FR-090 structured block per
contracts/output-frontmatter-schema.md.
Citations & memory: follow contracts/citation-and-memory.md — ≥1 citation per 200 words; every material fact, table row, and metric is immediately followed by its inline clickable https://agentii.ai/v/{ticker}/{citation_id}/{N} link; a bottom Citations section provides a non-duplicative roll-up index; the closing TUI reply includes a compact Key Citations list (headline 5–10 facts) of clickable /v/ URLs; and append the run to agentii.md per contracts/agentii-md-schema.md.
Validation Gates
- Dividend consistency: DPS must be positive in ≥4 of last 5 years. If failed: flag "Dividend history insufficient for reliable DDM — consider Residual Income or DCF."
- Growth sustainability: DPS growth rate must not exceed sustainable growth rate (ROE × (1 - Payout Ratio). If failed: flag "Dividend growth exceeds sustainable rate — imply future dilution or leverage increase."
- Terminal value reasonableness: Terminal value must be <80% of total fair value. *If failed*: flag "Terminal value dominates (>80% of fair value) — model highly sensitive to terminal assumptions."
Tool Fallbacks
Per-tool failure modes and fallback actions are tabulated in references/tool-fallbacks.md.
Memory & Snapshot
- Memory load (pre-flight): load prior workspace context for the ticker before retrieval — see
contracts/memory-load.md. - Structured output frontmatter: emit the FR-090 block (
key_metrics,conclusions,facts_count,deducted_count,views_count,citation_count) percontracts/output-frontmatter-schema.md. - Snapshot synthesis: after writing the deliverable, update the two-tier snapshot and classify findings as
[FACT]/[DEDUCTED]/[VIEW]— seecontracts/snapshot-synthesis.md. - Session archival: record the run under
sessions/{YYYY-MM-DD}/and updatesessions/INDEX.mdpercontracts/session-format.md.
Final Summary (TUI)
End the closing chat reply with a compact Key Citations list (headline 5–10 facts), each a clickable https://agentii.ai/v/{ticker}/{citation_id}/{N} link, so the user can cmd+click straight to the exact SEC page. See contracts/citation-and-memory.md.
Error Handling
| Failure Mode | Action | User-Facing Message |
|---|---|---|
| No dividend history | Halt; redirect to DCF or Residual Income | "{ticker} does not pay dividends — DDM not applicable. Use DCF or Residual Income." |
| Zero or negative beta | Prompt user for manual beta input | "Beta unavailable for {ticker}. Please provide beta estimate." |