Should You Investigate PageGroup plc (LON:PAGE) At UK£3.95?

PageGroup plc (LON:PAGE), might not be a large cap stock, but it saw a double-digit share price rise of over 10% in the past couple of months on the LSE. With many analysts covering the 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 examine PageGroup’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

Check out our latest analysis for PageGroup

What's the opportunity in PageGroup?

The share price seems sensible at the moment according to my price multiple model, where I compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. 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 26.5x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 24.57x, which means if you buy PageGroup today, you’d be paying a relatively sensible price for it. And if you believe PageGroup 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. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since PageGroup’s share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

Can we expect growth from PageGroup?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. 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 35% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for PageGroup. 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 PAGE’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 financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at PAGE? 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 PAGE, 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 PAGE, 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.

So if you'd like to dive deeper into this stock, it's crucial to consider any risks it's facing. While conducting our analysis, we found that PageGroup has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this.

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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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