A Look At The Fair Value Of MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság (BUSE:MOL)

Key Insights

• MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság's estimated fair value is Ft3,032 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity
• Current share price of Ft2,742 suggests MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság is potentially trading close to its fair value
• Our fair value estimate is 7.6% lower than MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság's analyst price target of Ft3,279

Does the May share price for MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság (BUSE:MOL) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. 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 MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság

The Model

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. 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, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = Ft1.7t

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.3%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 16%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₂ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = Ft169b× (1 + 1.3%) ÷ (16%– 1.3%) = Ft1.1t

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= Ft1.1t÷ ( 1 + 16%)¹⁰= Ft258b

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is Ft1.9t. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of Ft2.7k, the company appears about fair value at a 9.6% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

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 MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság 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 16%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.609. 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 MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság

Moving On:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság, there are three important factors you should consider:

1. Risks: To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with MOL Magyar Olaj- és Gázipari Nyilvánosan Muködo Részvénytársaság .
2. Future Earnings: How does MOL'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 Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Hungarian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock 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.