Akzo Nobel N.V. (AMS:AKZA) led the ENXTAM gainers with a relatively large price hike in the past couple of weeks. The recent share price gains has brought the company back closer to its yearly peak. As a large-cap stock with high coverage by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company’s outlook is already priced into the stock. However, what if the stock is still a bargain? Let’s examine Akzo Nobel’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

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Is Akzo Nobel Still Cheap?

According to our price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average, the stock price seems to be justfied. In this instance, we’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. We find that Akzo Nobel’s ratio of 21.84x is trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 21.84x, which means if you buy Akzo Nobel today, you’d be paying a relatively reasonable price for it. And if you believe that Akzo Nobel should be trading at this level in the long run, then there should only be a fairly immaterial downside vs other industry peers. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since Akzo Nobel’s share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

See our latest analysis for Akzo Nobel

What kind of growth will Akzo Nobel generate?

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. Akzo Nobel's earnings over the next few years are expected to increase by 87%, indicating a highly optimistic future ahead. This should lead to more robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? AKZA’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at AKZA? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below the industry PE ratio?