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At $34.2, Is It Time To Buy Washington Federal Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD)?

Washington Federal Inc (NASDAQ:WAFD), operating in the financial services industry based in United States, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NasdaqGS in the over the last few months, increasing to $37.35 at one point, and dropping to the lows of $33.65. 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 Washington Federal’s current trading price of $34.2 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at Washington Federal’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change. See our latest analysis for Washington Federal

What’s the opportunity in Washington Federal?

The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my valuation model. It’s trading around 16% above my intrinsic value, which means if you buy Washington Federal today, you’d be paying a relatively reasonable price for it. And if you believe the company’s true value is $29.4, there’s only an insignificant downside when the price falls to its real value. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since Washington Federal’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.

What kind of growth will Washington Federal generate?

NasdaqGS:WAFD Future Profit Apr 11th 18
NasdaqGS:WAFD Future Profit Apr 11th 18

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 16.54% in the upcoming year, the short-term outlook is positive for Washington Federal. It looks like higher cash flows 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 WAFD’s positive outlook, with shares trading around its fair value. 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 the stock? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuates below the true value?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on WAFD, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the optimistic prospect is encouraging for the company, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Washington Federal. You can find everything you need to know about Washington Federal in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Washington Federal, 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.

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