Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN): How Much Money Comes Back To Investors?
Two important questions to ask before you buy Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN) is, how it makes money and how it spends its cash. This difference directly flows down to how much the stock is worth. Operating in the industrial machinery industry, NDSN is currently valued at US$7.90b. I’ve analysed below, the health and outlook of NDSN’s cash flow, which will help you understand the stock from a cash standpoint. Cash is an important concept to grasp as an investor, as it directly impacts the value of your shares and the future growth potential of your portfolio.
View our latest analysis for Nordson
What is free cash flow?
Nordson generates cash through its day-to-day business, which needs to be reinvested into the company in order for it to continue operating. What remains after this expenditure, is known as its free cash flow, or FCF, for short.
I will be analysing Nordson’s FCF by looking at its FCF yield and its operating cash flow growth. The yield will tell us whether the stock is generating enough cash to compensate for the risk investors take on by holding a single stock, which I will compare to the market index. The growth will proxy for sustainability levels of this cash generation.
Free Cash Flow = Operating Cash Flows – Net Capital Expenditure
Free Cash Flow Yield = Free Cash Flow / Enterprise Value
where Enterprise Value = Market Capitalisation + Net Debt
Nordson’s yield of 2.87% indicates its sub-standard capacity to generate cash, compared to the stock market index as a whole, accounting for the size differential. This means investors are taking on more concentrated risk on Nordson but are not being adequately rewarded for doing so.
Is Nordson’s yield sustainable?
Can NDSN improve its operating cash production in the future? Let’s take a quick look at the cash flow trend the company is expected to deliver over time. Over the next few years, the company is expected to grow its cash from operations at a double-digit rate of 22.0%, ramping up from its current levels of US$417.7m to US$509.7m in two years’ time. Although this seems impressive, breaking down into year-on-year growth rates, NDSN’s operating cash flow growth is expected to decline from a rate of 12.9% next year, to 8.1% in the following year. However the overall picture seems encouraging, should capital expenditure levels maintain at an appropriate level.
Next Steps:
Given a low free cash flow yield, on the basis of cash, Nordson becomes a less appealing investment. This is because you would be better compensated in terms of cash yield, by investing in the market index, as well as take on lower diversification risk. However, cash is only one aspect of investing. Keep in mind that cash is only one aspect of investment analysis and there are other important fundamentals to assess. I suggest you continue to research Nordson to get a more holistic view of the company by looking at:
Valuation: What is NDSN worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether NDSN is currently mispriced by the market.
Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Nordson’s board and the CEO’s back ground.
Other High-Performing Stocks: If you believe you should cushion your portfolio with something less risky, scroll through our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past 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. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
