Valuation experts assessing how a subject company will recover from the pandemic will be interested in a new study. Majority employee-owned companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have been more resilient in responding to the pandemic than other companies, suggests the study. And they are much more optimistic about recovering. ESOPs are nearly six times more likely to anticipate their business would return to its previous level of performance than non-ESOPs. The study’s findings are similar to prior findings regarding the performance and behavior of employee-owned companies during the 2008-2010 recession. The study, “Employee-Owned Firms in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is from Rutgers University and SSRS and is funded by the Employee Ownership Foundation, an affiliate of The ESOP Association.