Should You Think About Buying Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Now?
While Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) might not have the largest market cap around , it received a lot of attention from a substantial price increase on the NYSE over the last few months. The company's trading levels have reached its high for the past year, following the recent bounce in the share price. As a mid-cap stock with high coverage by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company’s outlook is already priced into the stock. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Today we will analyse the most recent data on Eagle Materials’s outlook and valuation to see if the opportunity still exists.
Check out our latest analysis for Eagle Materials
What Is Eagle Materials Worth?
The share price seems sensible at the moment according to our price multiple model, where we compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. In this instance, we’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. We find that Eagle Materials’s ratio of 16.94x is trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 20.63x, which means if you buy Eagle Materials today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe Eagle Materials should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price to grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that Eagle Materials’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.
What does the future of Eagle Materials look like?
Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. Eagle Materials' earnings growth are expected to be in the teens in the upcoming years, indicating a solid future ahead. This should lead to robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.
What This Means For You
Are you a shareholder? EXP’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at EXP? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the industry PE ratio?
Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on EXP, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the optimistic forecast is encouraging for EXP, which means it’s worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.
So if you'd like to dive deeper into this stock, it's crucial to consider any risks it's facing. While conducting our analysis, we found that Eagle Materials has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.
If you are no longer interested in Eagle Materials, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
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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.
