Are Investors Undervaluing Gear4music (Holdings) plc (LON:G4M) By 35%?

Key Insights

• The projected fair value for Gear4music (Holdings) is UK£2.36 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity
• Gear4music (Holdings)'s UK£1.53 share price signals that it might be 35% undervalued

How far off is Gear4music (Holdings) plc (LON:G4M) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Gear4music (Holdings)

Step By Step Through The Calculation

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF (£, Millions)	UK£4.74m	UK£5.12m	UK£4.89m	UK£4.76m	UK£4.69m	UK£4.67m	UK£4.67m	UK£4.70m	UK£4.74m	UK£4.80m
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x2	Analyst x2	Est @ -4.58%	Est @ -2.71%	Est @ -1.41%	Est @ -0.49%	Est @ 0.15%	Est @ 0.59%	Est @ 0.91%	Est @ 1.13%
Present Value (£, Millions) Discounted @ 10%	UK£4.3	UK£4.2	UK£3.6	UK£3.2	UK£2.9	UK£2.6	UK£2.3	UK£2.1	UK£1.9	UK£1.8

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK£29m

After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (1.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 10%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = UK£4.8m× (1 + 1.6%) ÷ (10%– 1.6%) = UK£55m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= UK£55m÷ ( 1 + 10%)¹⁰= UK£21m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is UK£49m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of UK£1.5, the company appears quite good value at a 35% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

The Assumptions

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Gear4music (Holdings) as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 10%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.605. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

SWOT Analysis for Gear4music (Holdings)

Looking Ahead:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Gear4music (Holdings), we've put together three important factors you should assess:

1. Risks: For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Gear4music (Holdings) (2 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
2. Future Earnings: How does G4M's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart.
3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the AIM every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.