While JOST Werke SE (ETR:JST) might not be the most widely known stock at the moment, it received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the XTRA over the last few months, increasing to €54.10 at one point, and dropping to the lows of €47.00. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether JOST Werke's current trading price of €50.10 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at JOST Werke’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.
Check out our latest analysis for JOST Werke
What's The Opportunity In JOST Werke?
The share price seems sensible at the moment according to my price multiple model, where I compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 11.98x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 14.5x, which means if you buy JOST Werke today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe that JOST Werke should be trading at this level in the long run, then there’s not much of an upside to gain over and above other industry peers. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because JOST Werke’s beta (a measure of share price volatility) is high, meaning its price movements will be exaggerated relative to the rest of the market. If the market is bearish, the company’s shares will likely fall by more than the rest of the market, providing a prime buying opportunity.
Can we expect growth from JOST Werke?
Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. Though in the case of JOST Werke, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting earnings growth of 9.9%, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for the company, at least in the near term.
What This Means For You
Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in JST’s growth outlook, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at JST? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the industry PE ratio?