Should You Think About Buying RPM International Inc (NYSE:RPM) Now?

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RPM International Inc (NYSE:RPM), which is in the chemicals business, and is based in United States, received a lot of attention from a substantial price increase on the NYSE over the last few months. With many analysts covering the mid-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. However, what if the stock is still a bargain? Let’s examine RPM International’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

View our latest analysis for RPM International

What’s the opportunity in RPM International?

The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my relative valuation model. I’ve used the price-to-equity ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 25.12x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 22.32x, which means if you buy RPM International today, you’d be paying a relatively fair price for it. And if you believe that RPM International should be trading at this level in the long run, there’s only an insignificant downside when the price falls to its real value. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since RPM International’s share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

What does the future of RPM International look like?

NYSE:RPM Future Profit October 3rd 18
NYSE:RPM Future Profit October 3rd 18

Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. RPM International’s earnings over the next few years are expected to increase by 42%, indicating a highly optimistic future ahead. This should lead to more robust cash flows, feeding into a higher share value.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? RPM’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at RPM? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on RPM, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for RPM, 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.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on RPM International. You can find everything you need to know about RPM International in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in RPM International, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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.

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