Pearson Valuation

Is PES undervalued compared to its fair value, analyst forecasts and its price relative to the market?

Valuation Score

4/6

Valuation Score 4/6

  • Below Fair Value

  • Significantly Below Fair Value

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Peers

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Industry

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio

  • Analyst Forecast

Share Price vs Fair Value

What is the Fair Price of PES when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.

Below Fair Value: PES (€14.8) is trading below our estimate of fair value (€18.99)

Significantly Below Fair Value: PES is trading below fair value by more than 20%.


Key Valuation Metric

Which metric is best to use when looking at relative valuation for PES?

Key metric: As PES is profitable we use its Price-To-Earnings Ratio for relative valuation analysis.

The above table shows the Price to Earnings ratio for PES. This is calculated by dividing PES's market cap by their current earnings.
What is PES's PE Ratio?
PE Ratio23.5x
EarningsUK£349.00m
Market CapUK£8.21b

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Peers

How does PES's PE Ratio compare to its peers?

The above table shows the PE ratio for PES vs its peers. Here we also display the market cap and forecasted growth for additional consideration.
CompanyForward PEEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
Peer Average27.6x
EDU New Oriental Education & Technology Group
24.6x20.7%US$9.6b
7x17.3%€3.8b
BFAM Bright Horizons Family Solutions
57.4x33.4%US$6.7b
LOPE Grand Canyon Education
21.3x6.4%US$4.8b
PES Pearson
23.5x10.6%€8.2b

Price-To-Earnings vs Peers: PES is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (23.5x) compared to the peer average (27.6x).


Price to Earnings Ratio vs Industry

How does PES's PE Ratio compare vs other companies in the European Consumer Services Industry?

1 CompanyPrice / EarningsEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
PES 23.5xIndustry Avg. 17.7xNo. of Companies6PE01632486480+
1 CompanyEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
No more companies

Price-To-Earnings vs Industry: PES is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (23.5x) compared to the Global Consumer Services industry average (17.5x).


Price to Earnings Ratio vs Fair Ratio

What is PES's PE Ratio compared to its Fair PE Ratio? This is the expected PE Ratio taking into account the company's forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.

PES PE Ratio vs Fair Ratio.
Fair Ratio
Current PE Ratio23.5x
Fair PE Ratio30x

Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio: PES is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (23.5x) compared to the estimated Fair Price-To-Earnings Ratio (30x).


Analyst Price Targets

What is the analyst 12-month forecast and do we have any statistical confidence in the consensus price target?

The above table shows the analyst PES forecast and predictions for the stock price in 12 month’s time.
DateShare PriceAverage 1Y Price TargetDispersionHighLow1Y Actual priceAnalysts
Current€14.80
€14.21
-4.0%
9.9%€16.69€11.92n/a11
Nov ’25€13.75
€14.01
+1.9%
8.4%€16.64€11.94n/a11
Oct ’25€12.13
€13.55
+11.7%
7.9%€15.64€11.70n/a11
Sep ’25€12.46
€13.55
+8.8%
7.9%€15.64€11.70n/a11
Aug ’25€12.56
€13.86
+10.4%
9.2%€15.96€11.81n/a11
Jul ’25€11.10
€13.39
+20.6%
8.2%€15.03€11.83n/a11
Jun ’25€11.08
€13.33
+20.3%
8.1%€14.95€11.76n/a11
May ’25€11.43
€13.25
+15.9%
8.2%€14.85€11.68n/a11
Apr ’25€12.22
€13.26
+8.6%
8.4%€14.91€11.68n/a11
Mar ’25€11.81
€13.15
+11.3%
9.6%€15.26€11.27n/a11
Feb ’25€11.31
€13.16
+16.4%
9.9%€15.40€11.39n/a11
Jan ’25€11.13
€12.66
+13.7%
7.7%€14.24€11.33n/a11
Dec ’24€10.82
€12.70
+17.4%
8.2%€14.32€11.39n/a11
Nov ’24€10.93
€12.59
+15.2%
7.7%€14.08€11.21€13.7511
Oct ’24€10.03
€12.25
+22.1%
8.5%€14.01€10.42€12.1312
Sep ’24€9.79
€12.18
+24.4%
8.7%€13.89€10.51€12.4613
Aug ’24€9.74
€12.08
+24.0%
8.2%€13.84€10.47€12.5613
Jul ’24€9.60
€11.94
+24.4%
9.7%€14.14€10.29€11.1013
Jun ’24€9.41
€11.94
+27.0%
9.7%€14.14€10.29€11.0813
May ’24€10.10
€11.82
+17.0%
9.9%€14.03€10.09€11.4313
Apr ’24€9.58
€11.83
+23.4%
11.0%€13.97€10.05€12.2213
Mar ’24€10.45
€11.79
+12.8%
11.3%€13.98€9.89€11.8113
Feb ’24€10.30
€11.91
+15.6%
11.1%€14.11€10.09€11.3113
Jan ’24€10.55
€11.58
+9.8%
12.8%€13.77€8.95€11.1313
Dec ’23€10.95
€11.56
+5.5%
12.4%€13.74€9.07€10.8213
Nov ’23€11.10
€11.35
+2.3%
12.3%€13.24€8.98€10.9314

Analyst Forecast: Target price is lower than the current share price.


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