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Calculating The Intrinsic Value Of Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD)

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How far off is Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD) 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. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Pinduoduo

Crunching the numbers

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. 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 are 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.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

Levered FCF (CN¥, Millions)

CN¥8.71k

CN¥15.40k

CN¥16.89k

CN¥18.17k

CN¥19.28k

CN¥20.27k

CN¥21.16k

CN¥21.98k

CN¥22.76k

CN¥23.51k

Growth Rate Estimate Source

Est @ 12.64%

Analyst x1

Est @ 9.67%

Est @ 7.58%

Est @ 6.13%

Est @ 5.11%

Est @ 4.4%

Est @ 3.9%

Est @ 3.55%

Est @ 3.3%

Present Value (CN¥, Millions) Discounted @ 11.36%

CN¥7.82k

CN¥12.42k

CN¥12.23k

CN¥11.82k

CN¥11.26k

CN¥10.63k

CN¥9.97k

CN¥9.30k

CN¥8.65k

CN¥8.02k

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= CN¥102.11b

"Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St

After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the intial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 10-year government bond rate of 2.7%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 11.4%.

Terminal Value (TV) = FCF2029 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = CN¥24b × (1 + 2.7%) ÷ (11.4% – 2.7%) = CN¥280b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV) = TV / (1 + r)10 = CN¥CN¥280b ÷ ( 1 + 11.4%)10 = CN¥95.50b

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is CN¥197.61b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. This results in an intrinsic value estimate in the company’s reported currency of CN¥171.22. However, PDD’s primary listing is in China, and 1 share of PDD in CNY represents 0.147 ( CNY/ USD) share of NasdaqGS:PDD, so the intrinsic value per share in USD is $25.1. Relative to the current share price of $22.4, the company appears about fair value at a 11% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

NasdaqGS:PDD Intrinsic value, May 14th 2019
NasdaqGS:PDD Intrinsic value, May 14th 2019

Important assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. 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 Pinduoduo 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 11.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.447. 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.

Next Steps:

Whilst important, DCF calculation shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Pinduoduo, There are three additional factors you should further research:

  1. Financial Health: Does PDD have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.

  2. Future Earnings: How does PDD'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.

  3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of PDD? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

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

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.

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