Is there a rule of thumb for calculating whether an acquisition will be accretive or dilutive?

If the deal involves just cash and debt, you can sum up the interest expense for debt and the foregone interest on cash, then compare it against the seller’s Pre-Tax Income.

And if it’s an all-stock deal you can use a shortcut to assess whether it is accretive (see question #5).

But if the deal involves cash, stock, and debt, there’s no quick rule-of-thumb you can use unless you’re lightning fast with mental math.