Is It Too Late To Consider Buying Bankia, S.A. (BME:BKIA)?

Bankia, S.A. (BME:BKIA), operating in the financial services industry based in Spain, saw a double-digit share price rise of over 10% in the past couple of months on the BME. With many analysts covering the mid-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. But what if there is still an opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at Bankia’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists.

View our latest analysis for Bankia

What is Bankia worth?

According to my relative valuation model, the stock seems to be currently fairly priced. 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 10.47x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 9.5x, which means if you buy Bankia today, you’d be paying a relatively fair price for it. And if you believe that Bankia should be trading at this level in the long run, there’s only an insignificant downside when the price falls to its real value. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because Bankia’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.

What does the future of Bankia look like?

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. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. With profit expected to grow by a double-digit 19% over the next couple of years, the outlook is positive for Bankia. 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? BKIA’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. 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 BKIA? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the true value?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on BKIA, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the optimistic forecast is encouraging for BKIA, 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 Bankia. You can find everything you need to know about Bankia in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Bankia, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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.

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. Thank you for reading.