is discounted cash flow the same as net present value npv 
no it s not although the two concepts are closely related npv adds a fourth step to the dcf calculation process after forecasting the expected cash flows selecting a discount rate discounting those cash flows and totaling them npv then deducts the upfront cost of the investment from the dcf for instance if the cost of purchasing the investment in our above example were 200 then the npv of that investment would be 248 68 minus 200 or 48 68 the bottom linediscounted cash flow is a valuation method that estimates the value of an investment based on its expected future cash flows by using a dfc calculation investors can estimate the profit they could make with an investment adjusted for the time value of money the value of expected future cash flows is first calculated by using a projected discount rate if the discounted cash flow is higher than the current cost of the investment the investment opportunity could be worthwhile 