At £1.2855, Is It Time To Buy Capita plc (LON:CPI)?
Capita plc (LSE:CPI), a professional services company based in United Kingdom, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the LSE over the last few months, increasing to £2 at one point, and dropping to the lows of £1.29. This high level of volatility gives investors the opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at an artificially low price. A question to answer is whether Capita’s current trading price of £1.29 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 Capita’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. View our latest analysis for Capita
What’s the opportunity in Capita?
Good news, investors! Capita is still a bargain right now. According to my valuation, the intrinsic value for the stock is £2.95, but it is currently trading at UK£1.29 on the share market, meaning that there is still an opportunity to buy now. Capita’s share price also seems relatively stable compared to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. If you believe the share price should eventually reach its true value, a low beta could suggest it is unlikely to rapidly do so anytime soon, and once it’s there, it may be hard to fall back down into an attractive buying range.
What does the future of Capita look like?
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. Though in the case of Capita, it is expected to deliver a negative revenue growth of -11.72% over the next couple of years, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. It appears that risk of future uncertainty is high, at least in the near term.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? Although CPI is currently undervalued, the negative outlook does bring on some uncertainty, which equates to higher risk. I recommend you think about whether you want to increase your portfolio exposure to CPI, or whether diversifying into another stock may be a better move for your total risk and return.
Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on CPI for some time, but hesitant on making the leap, I recommend you research further into the stock. Given its current undervaluation, now is a great time to make a decision. But keep in mind the risks that come with negative growth prospects in the future.
Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Capita. You can find everything you need to know about Capita in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Capita, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
