Advertisement
U.S. markets open in 2 hours 50 minutes
  • S&P Futures

    5,206.50
    -8.25 (-0.16%)
     
  • Dow Futures

    39,197.00
    -26.00 (-0.07%)
     
  • Nasdaq Futures

    18,186.75
    -44.75 (-0.25%)
     
  • Russell 2000 Futures

    2,047.00
    -2.80 (-0.14%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    82.43
    -0.29 (-0.35%)
     
  • Gold

    2,157.30
    -7.00 (-0.32%)
     
  • Silver

    25.10
    -0.16 (-0.63%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0847
    -0.0029 (-0.27%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.3400
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     
  • Vix

    14.60
    +0.27 (+1.88%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2682
    -0.0047 (-0.37%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    150.5360
    +1.4380 (+0.96%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    63,219.36
    -4,735.50 (-6.97%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,717.99
    -4.56 (-0.06%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    40,003.60
    +263.20 (+0.66%)
     

Calculating The Intrinsic Value Of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG)

How far off is The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Scotts Miracle-Gro

The calculation

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. 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 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

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

Levered FCF ($, Millions)

US$444.3m

US$523.0m

US$534.0m

US$554.0m

US$570.8m

US$586.7m

US$602.0m

US$617.1m

US$632.0m

US$646.8m

Growth Rate Estimate Source

Analyst x3

Analyst x3

Analyst x1

Analyst x1

Est @ 3.03%

Est @ 2.79%

Est @ 2.62%

Est @ 2.5%

Est @ 2.41%

Est @ 2.36%

Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.3%

US$410

US$446

US$420

US$402

US$382

US$363

US$343

US$325

US$307

US$290

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$3.7b

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. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.3%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2030 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$647m× (1 + 2.2%) ÷ (8.3%– 2.2%) = US$11b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$11b÷ ( 1 + 8.3%)10= US$4.8b

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 US$8.5b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$157, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf
dcf

Important assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own 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 Scotts Miracle-Gro 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 8.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.019. 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:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. 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 Scotts Miracle-Gro, we've put together three fundamental items you should explore:

  1. Risks: Be aware that Scotts Miracle-Gro is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

  2. Future Earnings: How does SMG'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 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 American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Advertisement