Is It Too Late To Consider Buying LSL Property Services plc (LON:LSL)?
While LSL Property Services plc (LON:LSL) might not be the most widely known stock at the moment, it saw a double-digit share price rise of over 10% in the past couple of months on the LSE. As a small cap stock, hardly covered by any analysts, there is generally more of an opportunity for mispricing as there is less activity to push the stock closer to fair value. Is there still an opportunity here to buy? Let’s examine LSL Property Services’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.
See our latest analysis for LSL Property Services
What is LSL Property Services worth?
According to my 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. 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 12.73x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 14.21x, which means if you buy LSL Property Services today, you’d be paying a decent price for it. And if you believe LSL Property Services should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price to grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that LSL Property Services’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.
Can we expect growth from LSL Property Services?
Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. 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. With profit expected to grow by a double-digit 17% over the next couple of years, the outlook is positive for LSL Property Services. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in LSL’s positive 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 LSL? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below the industry PE ratio?
Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on LSL, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for LSL, which means it’s worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.
Since timing is quite important when it comes to individual stock picking, it's worth taking a look at what those latest analysts forecasts are. Luckily, you can check out what analysts are forecasting by clicking here.
If you are no longer interested in LSL Property Services, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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