Answer:
The answer is: The net present value of the investments
Explanation:
The net present value calculates the current monetary value of a project's future cash flows, using a discount rate. You must remember that $1 today is worth more $1 in the future.
When deciding what projects should be financed, an investor will always look for projects with a NPV ≥ 0, and if he has to decide between two projects, the he will probably choose the project with the highest NPV.
The easiest way to calculate the net present value is to use an excel spreadsheet and the NPV function:
=NPV(rate,value 1, value 2,... value n)