Is Now The Time To Look At Buying Savills plc (LON:SVS)?

Savills plc (LON:SVS), which is in the real estate business, and is based in United Kingdom, received a lot of attention from a substantial price increase on the LSE over the last few months. As a stock with high coverage by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company’s outlook is already priced into the stock. However, could the stock still be trading at a relatively cheap price? Let’s examine Savills’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

View our latest analysis for Savills

What's the opportunity in Savills?

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 13.55x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 13.26x, which means if you buy Savills today, you’d be paying a relatively sensible price for it. And if you believe Savills should be trading in this range, then there isn’t really any room for the share price grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because Savills’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 Savills?

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. With profit expected to grow by 26% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Savills. 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? It seems like the market has already priced in SVS’s positive outlook, 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 SVS? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below the industry PE ratio?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on SVS, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for SVS, 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.

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

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.