A Look At The Intrinsic Value Of Hilton Food Group plc (LON:HFG)

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editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Sun, Sep 24, 2023, 11:22 PM 6 min read

How far off is Hilton Food Group plc (LON:HFG) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Models like these may appear beyond the comprehension of a lay person, but they're fairly easy to follow.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Hilton Food Group

The Calculation

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF (£, Millions)	UK£45.9m	UK£45.6m	UK£45.7m	UK£45.9m	UK£46.2m	UK£46.6m	UK£47.1m	UK£47.7m	UK£48.3m	UK£48.9m
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x5	Analyst x5	Est @ 0.08%	Est @ 0.47%	Est @ 0.74%	Est @ 0.93%	Est @ 1.07%	Est @ 1.16%	Est @ 1.23%	Est @ 1.27%
Present Value (£, Millions) Discounted @ 6.5%	UK£43.1	UK£40.2	UK£37.8	UK£35.6	UK£33.7	UK£31.9	UK£30.3	UK£28.8	UK£27.3	UK£26.0

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK£335m

After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.4%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 6.5%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = UK£49m× (1 + 1.4%) ÷ (6.5%– 1.4%) = UK£965m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= UK£965m÷ ( 1 + 6.5%)¹⁰= UK£513m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is UK£848m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of UK£7.6, the company appears about fair value at a 19% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf — LSE:HFG Discounted Cash Flow September 25th 2023

The Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Hilton Food Group as 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 accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.869. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Hilton Food Group

Strength

Debt is well covered by cash flow.

Weakness

Earnings declined over the past year.

Interest payments on debt are not well covered.

Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Food market.

Opportunity

Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the British market.

Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Threat

Dividends are not covered by earnings.

Annual revenue is forecast to grow slower than the British market.

Moving On:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Hilton Food Group, there are three essential items you should consider:

Risks: As an example, we've found 4 warning signs for Hilton Food Group (1 is significant!) that you need to consider before investing here.
Future Earnings: How does HFG's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart.
Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every British stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an 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 account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.