WH Smith PLC

DB:21Q Stock Report

Market Cap: €970.9m

WH Smith Valuation

Is 21Q undervalued compared to its fair value, analyst forecasts and its price relative to the market?

Valuation Score

3/6

Valuation Score 3/6

  • Below Future Cash Flow Value

  • Significantly Below Future Cash Flow Value

  • Price-To-Sales vs Peers

  • Price-To-Sales vs Industry

  • Price-To-Sales vs Fair Ratio

  • Analyst Forecast

Share Price vs Future Cash Flow Value

What is the Fair Price of 21Q when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.

Ultimate guide to DCF valuation for stock investing

Learn how to determine fair value like the best investors in the world.

Below Future Cash Flow Value: 21Q (€7.65) is trading below our estimate of future cash flow value (€7.81)

Significantly Below Future Cash Flow Value: 21Q is trading below future cash flow value, but not by a significant amount.

Key Valuation Metric

Which metric is best to use when looking at relative valuation for 21Q?

Key metric: As 21Q is unprofitable we use its Price-To-Sales Ratio for relative valuation analysis.

The above table shows the Price to Sales ratio for 21Q. This is calculated by dividing 21Q's market cap by their current revenue.
What is 21Q's PS Ratio?
PS Ratio0.5x
SalesUK£1.55b
Market CapUK£841.69m

Price to Sales Ratio vs Peers

How does 21Q's PS Ratio compare to its peers?

The above table shows the PS ratio for 21Q vs its peers. Here we also display the market cap and forecasted growth for additional consideration.
CompanyForward PSEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
Peer Average0.6x
FIE Fielmann Group
1.4x5.22%€3.4b
BIKE Bike24 Holding
0.5x10.62%€135.1m
MRX Mister Spex
0.2x3.90%€42.7m
HBH HORNBACH Holding KGaA
0.2x2.55%€1.3b
21Q WH Smith
0.5x4.98%€841.7m

Price-To-Sales vs Peers: 21Q is good value based on its Price-To-Sales Ratio (0.5x) compared to the peer average (0.6x).

Historical Price to Sales Ratio

Historical Price to Sales Ratio compares a stock's price to its sales over time. Higher ratios indicate that investors are willing to pay more for the stock.

Fetching historical data

Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry

How does 21Q's PS Ratio compare vs other companies in the DE Specialty Retail Industry?

4 CompaniesPrice / SalesEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
CEC Ceconomy
0.09x1.33%US$2.50b
GFG Global Fashion Group
0.09x1.32%US$79.30m
DEX Delticom
0.07x2.85%US$40.37m
49S Superdry
0.004x-1.35%US$3.12m
No more companies available in this PS range
21Q 0.5xIndustry Avg. 0.4xNo. of Companies4PS00.40.81.21.62+
4 CompaniesEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
No more companies

Price-To-Sales vs Industry: 21Q is expensive based on its Price-To-Sales Ratio (0.5x) compared to the European Specialty Retail industry average (0.4x).

Price to Sales Ratio vs Fair Ratio

What is 21Q's PS Ratio compared to its Fair PS Ratio? This is the expected PS Ratio taking into account the company's forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.

21Q PS Ratio vs Fair Ratio.
Fair Ratio
Current PS Ratio0.5x
Fair PS Ratio0.6x

Price-To-Sales vs Fair Ratio: 21Q is good value based on its Price-To-Sales Ratio (0.5x) compared to the estimated Fair Price-To-Sales Ratio (0.6x).

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 21Q forecast and predictions for the stock price in 12 month’s time.
DateShare PriceAverage 1Y Price TargetDispersionHighLow1Y Actual priceAnalysts
Current€7.65
€8.12
+6.16%
9.81%€9.40€6.88n/a11
Jan ’27€7.20
€8.85
+22.85%
25.69%€15.46€7.44n/a10
Dec ’26€7.50
€8.85
+18.03%
24.00%€15.37€7.40n/a11
Nov ’26€7.60
€9.13
+20.15%
23.26%€15.37€7.69n/a11
Oct ’26€7.70
€9.79
+27.08%
27.19%€15.44€7.89n/a11
Sep ’26€7.75
€11.88
+53.29%
34.89%€18.51€8.10n/a10
Aug ’26€11.80
€15.04
+27.44%
14.91%€18.55€11.59n/a12
Jul ’26€12.50
€15.16
+21.29%
14.93%€18.65€11.65n/a12
Jun ’26€12.40
€16.12
+30.01%
16.51%€19.08€11.93n/a12
May ’26€10.40
€16.42
+57.89%
15.46%€19.99€11.76n/a13
Apr ’26€11.90
€18.28
+53.60%
8.55%€20.33€15.43n/a13
Mar ’26€13.90
€18.35
+32.01%
8.93%€20.41€15.49n/a13
Feb ’26€15.40
€18.24
+18.43%
9.22%€20.32€15.06n/a13
Jan ’26€14.60
€18.41
+26.11%
8.46%€20.36€15.09€7.2013
Dec ’25€14.60
€18.41
+26.11%
8.46%€20.36€15.09€7.5013
Nov ’25€15.60
€18.80
+20.48%
10.77%€23.71€15.53€7.6013
Oct ’25n/a
€19.05
0%
11.20%€24.01€15.73€7.7012
Sep ’25€15.10
€18.49
+22.42%
10.97%€23.63€15.47€7.7513
Aug ’25€15.60
€18.52
+18.71%
10.97%€23.67€15.50€11.8013
Jul ’25€13.30
€18.56
+39.56%
11.22%€23.60€15.46€12.5012
Jun ’25€13.50
€19.13
+41.71%
15.84%€27.02€15.39€12.4013
May ’25€13.00
€19.30
+48.45%
15.33%€26.88€15.78€10.4013
Apr ’25€15.15
€20.24
+33.57%
13.26%€26.97€17.00€11.9013
Mar ’25€14.25
€20.16
+41.44%
13.26%€26.86€16.94€13.9013
Feb ’25€14.29
€20.33
+42.28%
13.04%€26.98€17.01€15.4013
Jan ’25€15.22
€20.04
+31.64%
13.00%€26.52€16.72€14.6013
€8.03
Fair Value
4.7% undervalued intrinsic discount
11
Number of Analysts

Analyst Forecast: Target price is less than 20% higher than the current share price.

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Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2026/01/23 02:21
End of Day Share Price 2026/01/23 00:00
Earnings2025/08/31
Annual Earnings2025/08/31

Data Sources

The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.

PackageDataTimeframeExample US Source *
Company Financials10 years
  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
Analyst Consensus Estimates+3 years
  • Forecast financials
  • Analyst price targets
Market Prices30 years
  • Stock prices
  • Dividends, Splits and Actions
Ownership10 years
  • Top shareholders
  • Insider trading
Management10 years
  • Leadership team
  • Board of directors
Key Developments10 years
  • Company announcements

* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.

Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.

Analysis Model and Snowflake

Details of the analysis model used to generate this report is available on our Github page, we also have guides on how to use our reports and tutorials on Youtube.

Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Industry and Sector Metrics

Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.

Analyst Sources

WH Smith PLC is covered by 26 analysts. 10 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.

AnalystInstitution
Richard TaylorBarclays
Jack CummingsBerenberg
Luka TrnovsekBerenberg