Does the January share price for Procaps Group, SA (NASDAQ: PROC) reflect what it is really worth? Today we’re going to estimate the intrinsic value of the stock by taking expected future cash flows and discounting them to today’s value. Our analysis will use the discounted cash flow (DCF) model. Don’t be put off by the lingo, the underlying calculations are actually pretty straightforward.
There are many ways that businesses can be assessed, so we would like to point out that a DCF is not perfect for all situations. If you still have burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St.
Consult our latest analysis for the Procaps Group
The model
We use what is called a two-step model, which simply means that we have two different periods of growth rate for the cash flow of the business. Usually the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is lower growth stage. To begin with, we need to get cash flow estimates for the next ten years. Since no free cash flow analyst estimate is available, we have extrapolated the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last reported value of the company. We assume that companies with decreasing free cash flow will slow their rate of contraction, and companies with increasing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow during this period. We do this to reflect the fact that growth tends to slow down more in the early years than in subsequent years.
In general, we assume that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at an estimate of the present value:
10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast
2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | |
Leverage FCF ($, Millions) | US $ 35.9 million | US $ 37.0 million | US $ 38.0 million | $ 38.9 million | US $ 39.8 million | US $ 40.7 million | US $ 41.6 million | US $ 42.5 million | US $ 43.3 million | US $ 44.2 million |
Source of estimated growth rate | Is @ 3.54% | East @ 3.07% | East @ 2.73% | Is 2.5% | East @ 2.34% | East @ 2.23% | Is @ 2.15% | East @ 2.09% | East @ 2.05% | East @ 2.02% |
Present value (in millions of dollars) discounted at 5.5% | US $ 34.0 | $ 33.2 | $ 32.4 | US $ 31.5 | US $ 30.5 | $ 29.6 | $ 28.7 | US $ 27.7 | US $ 26.8 | US $ 26.0 |
(“East” = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
10-year present value of cash flows (PVCF) = US $ 300 million
After calculating the present value of future cash flows over the initial 10 year period, we need to calculate the terminal value, which takes into account all future cash flows beyond the first step. The Gordon growth formula is used to calculate the terminal value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.0%. We discount the terminal cash flows to their present value at a cost of equity of 5.5%.
Terminal value (TV)= FCF2031 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US $ 44 million × (1 + 2.0%) ÷ (5.5% to 2.0%) = US $ 1.3 billion
Present value of terminal value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)ten= US $ 1.3 billion ÷ (1 + 5.5%)ten= US $ 755 million
Total value, or net worth, is then the sum of the present value of future cash flows, which in this case is US $ 1.1 billion. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide it by the total number of shares outstanding. From the current share price of $ 9.3, the company appears to be roughly at fair value with a 0.6% discount to the current share price. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it’s best to take this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last penny.
The hypotheses
Now, the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and, of course, the actual cash flow. Part of investing is coming up with your own assessment of a company’s future performance, so try the math yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not take into account the possible cyclicality of an industry or the future capital needs of a company, so it does not give a full picture of a company’s potential performance. Since we consider the Procaps Group to be potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which takes debt into account. In this calculation, we have used 5.5%, which is based on a leverage beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of the volatility of a stock relative to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta from globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.
Move on :
While important, calculating DCF ideally won’t be the only piece of analysis you’ll look at for a business. It is not possible to achieve a rock-solid valuation with a DCF model. Rather, it should be seen as a guide to “what assumptions must be true for this stock to be under / overvalued?” If a business grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk-free rate changes sharply, output can be very different. For the Procaps group, we’ve compiled three important factors you should explore:
- Financial health: Does PROC have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
- Future benefits: How does PROC’s growth rate compare to that of its peers and the broader market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for years to come by interacting with our free analyst growth expectations chart.
- Other high quality alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high-quality stocks to get a feel for what you might be missing!
PS. The Simply Wall St app performs a daily discounted cash flow assessment for each NASDAQGM share. If you want to find the calculation for other actions, just search here.
Do you have any feedback on this item? Are you worried about the content? Get in touch with us directly. You can also send an email to the editorial team (at) simplywallst.com.
This Simply Wall St article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts using only unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take into account your goals or your financial situation. Our aim is to bring you long-term, targeted analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest announcements from price sensitive companies or qualitative documents. Simply Wall St has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.