Does the February share price for Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.
We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. 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 Advance Auto Parts
The Calculation
We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To begin with, we have to get estimates of 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, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:
10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Levered FCF ($, Millions)
US$653.3m
US$737.3m
US$886.0m
US$913.0m
US$907.0m
US$908.5m
US$915.0m
US$925.0m
US$937.6m
US$952.1m
Growth Rate Estimate Source
Analyst x4
Analyst x3
Analyst x1
Analyst x1
Analyst x1
Est @ 0.17%
Est @ 0.71%
Est @ 1.09%
Est @ 1.36%
Est @ 1.55%
Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 9.2%
US$598
US$618
US$680
US$642
US$584
US$535
US$494
US$457
US$424
US$394
("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$5.4b
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 2.0%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.2%.
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$13b÷ ( 1 + 9.2%)10= US$5.6b
The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$11b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$157, the company appears about fair value at a 16% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.
The Assumptions
The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the 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 Advance Auto Parts 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 9.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.204. 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 Advance Auto Parts
Strength
Debt is well covered by earnings and cashflows.
Balance sheet summary for AAP.
Weakness
Earnings declined over the past year.
Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Specialty Retail market.
Opportunity
Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 4 years.
Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.
Threat
Dividends are not covered by cash flow.
Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the American market.
See AAP's dividend history.
Moving On:
Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For Advance Auto Parts, we've put together three relevant items you should further research:
Risks: For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Advance Auto Parts that you should be aware of before investing here.
Future Earnings: How does AAP'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.
Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
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.
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.
Advanced Auto Parts,Inc.(ニューヨーク証券取引所コード:AAP)2月の株価はその真の価値を反映していますか?今日、私たちは会社の将来のキャッシュフローを見積もり、それを現在値に割引することで、株の内在的価値を推定します。そのため,割引キャッシュフロー(DCF)モデルを利用する.言葉に驚いて逃げないでくださいその背後にある数学は実際にはかなり簡単です
上記の計算は2つの仮定に大きく依存する.1つ目は割引率,もう1つはキャッシュフローである.これらの結果に同意しなければ、自分で計算してみて、仮説をもてあそぶことができます。DCFも業界の可能性の周期性を考慮しておらず、1社の将来の資本要求も考慮していないため、1社の潜在業績の全貌を与えていない。Advance Auto Partsを潜在株主と見なしていることから、債務の資本コスト(あるいは加重平均資本コスト、WACC)ではなく、株式コストを割引率として使用している。この計算には9.2%を用い,これはレバー率1.204に基づくテスト値である.ベータ係数は市場全体に対する株の変動性を測る指標である。我々のベータ係数は、世界の比較可能会社の業界平均ベータ係数から来ており、0.8から2.0の間に強制的に制限されており、これは安定したビジネスの合理的な範囲である