Calculating The Intrinsic Value Of Sienna Senior Living Inc. (TSE:SIA)

In this article:

Key Insights

  • Sienna Senior Living's estimated fair value is CA$10.67 based on Dividend Discount Model

  • Sienna Senior Living's CA$10.88 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate

  • Industry average of 6.5% suggests Sienna Senior Living's peers are currently trading at a higher premium to fair value

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Sienna Senior Living Inc. (TSE:SIA) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Check out our latest analysis for Sienna Senior Living

The Calculation

We have to calculate the value of Sienna Senior Living slightly differently to other stocks because it is a healthcare company. In this approach dividends per share (DPS) are used, as free cash flow is difficult to estimate and often not reported by analysts. Unless a company pays out the majority of its FCF as a dividend, this method will typically underestimate the value of the stock. The 'Gordon Growth Model' is used, which simply assumes that dividend payments will continue to increase at a sustainable growth rate forever. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.8%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.5%. Relative to the current share price of CA$10.9, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate)

= CA$0.9 / (6.5% – 1.8%)

= CA$10.7

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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 Sienna Senior Living 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 6.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. 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.

SWOT Analysis for Sienna Senior Living

Strength

  • Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market.

Weakness

  • Earnings declined over the past year.

  • Interest payments on debt are not well covered.

  • Current share price is above our estimate of fair value.

  • Shareholders have been diluted in the past year.

Opportunity

  • SIA's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders.

Threat

  • Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

  • Dividends are not covered by earnings and cashflows.

Looking Ahead:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or 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 Sienna Senior Living, we've put together three pertinent elements you should look at:

  1. Risks: To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Sienna Senior Living (including 2 which don't sit too well with us) .

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

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

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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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