Is Now An Opportune Moment To Examine Vectrus, Inc. (NYSE:VEC)?

While Vectrus, Inc. (NYSE:VEC) might not be the most widely known stock at the moment, it saw a significant share price rise of over 20% in the past couple of months on the NYSE. Less-covered, small caps tend to present more of an opportunity for mispricing due to the lack of information available to the public, which can be a good thing. So, could the stock still be trading at a low price relative to its actual value? Let’s take a look at Vectrus’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists.

See our latest analysis for Vectrus

What is Vectrus worth?

According to my price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average, the stock price seems to be justfied. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 16.57x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 20.47x, which means if you buy Vectrus today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe that Vectrus should be trading at this level in the long run, then there’s not much of an upside to gain over and above other industry peers. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because Vectrus’s beta (a measure of share price volatility) is high, meaning its price movements will be exaggerated relative to the rest of the market. If the market is bearish, the company’s shares will likely fall by more than the rest of the market, providing a prime buying opportunity.

Can we expect growth from Vectrus?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. 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. With profit expected to grow by 28% over the next year, the near-term future seems bright for Vectrus. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? VEC’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 VEC? 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 an eye on VEC, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for VEC, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

If you want to dive deeper into Vectrus, you'd also look into what risks it is currently facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Vectrus (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about.

If you are no longer interested in Vectrus, 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. 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.
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