Does Azelis Group NV (EBR:AZE) stock price in July reflect what it is really worth? Today we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of the stock by estimating the future cash flows of the company and discounting them to their present value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. This may sound complicated, but it’s actually quite simple!

Remember though that there are many ways to estimate the value of a business and a DCF is just one method. If you want to know more about discounted cash flow, the rationale for this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis template.

See our latest analysis for Azelis Group

The method

We use what is called a 2-stage model, which simply means that we have two different periods of company cash flow growth rates. Generally, the first stage is a higher growth phase and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first step, we need to estimate the company’s cash flow over the next ten years. Wherever possible, we use analysts’ estimates, but where these are not available, we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the latest estimate or reported value. We assume that companies with decreasing free cash flow will slow their rate of contraction and companies with increasing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow during this period. We do this to reflect the fact that growth tends to slow more in early years than in later years.

A DCF is based on the idea that a dollar in the future is worth less than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today’s dollars:

10-Year Free Cash Flow (FCF) Forecast

(“East” = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
10-year discounted cash flow (PVCF) = €2.4 billion

The second stage is also known as the terminal value, it is the cash flow of the business after the first stage. For a number of reasons, a very conservative growth rate is used which cannot exceed that of a country’s GDP growth. In this case, we used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.1%) to estimate future growth. Similar to the 10-year “growth” period, we discount future cash flows to present value, using a cost of equity of 6.5%.

Terminal value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₂ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = €386 million × (1 + 1.1%) ÷ (6.5%–1.1%) = €7.2 billion

Present value of terminal value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)^ten= €7.2 billion÷ ( 1 + 6.5%)^ten= €3.8 billion

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of future cash flows, which in this case is 6.2 billion euros. In the last step, we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of €21.3, the company appears to be approximately fair value at a 20% discount to the current share price. Ratings are imprecise instruments, however, much like a telescope – move a few degrees and end up in another galaxy. Keep that in mind.

The hypotheses

The above calculation is highly dependent on two assumptions. One is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you disagree with these results, try the math yourself and play around with the assumptions. The DCF also does not take into account the possible cyclicality of an industry or the future capital needs of a company, so it does not give a complete picture of a company’s potential performance. Since we consider Azelis Group 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 takes debt into account. In this calculation, we used 6.5%, which is based on a leveraged beta of 1.124. Beta is a measure of a stock’s volatility relative to the market as a whole. We derive our beta from the average industry beta of broadly comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable company.

Look forward:

Although important, the DCF calculation is just one of many factors you need to assess for a business. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably, you would apply different cases and assumptions and see their impact on the valuation of the business. If a company grows at a different pace, or if its cost of equity or risk-free rate changes sharply, output may be very different. For Azelis Group, we have put together three relevant aspects that you should consider:

1. Risks: For example, we have identified 1 warning sign for the Azelis group of which you should be aware.
2. Future earnings: How does AZE’s growth rate compare to its peers and the market in general? Dive deeper into the analyst consensus figure for the coming years by interacting with our free analyst growth forecast chart.
3. Other high-quality alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high-quality actions to get an idea of ​​what you might be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Belgian stock daily, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock, just search here.

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This Simply Wall St article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks and does not take into account your objectives or financial situation. Our goal is to bring you targeted long-term analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest announcements from price-sensitive companies or qualitative materials. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.