Is There An Opportunity With Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited's (NASDAQ:ATAT) 30% Undervaluation?

Key Insights

• Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Atour Lifestyle Holdings fair value estimate is US$26.57
• Atour Lifestyle Holdings' US$18.60 share price signals that it might be 30% undervalued
• The CN¥29.32 analyst price target for ATAT is 10% more than our estimate of fair value

Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:ATAT) as an investment opportunity by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

Check out our latest analysis for Atour Lifestyle Holdings

What's The Estimated Valuation?

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. 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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF (CN¥, Millions)	CN¥1.23b	CN¥1.43b	CN¥1.58b	CN¥1.71b	CN¥1.82b	CN¥1.91b	CN¥1.99b	CN¥2.06b	CN¥2.12b	CN¥2.18b
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x2	Analyst x1	Est @ 10.55%	Est @ 8.03%	Est @ 6.27%	Est @ 5.03%	Est @ 4.17%	Est @ 3.56%	Est @ 3.14%	Est @ 2.84%
Present Value (CN¥, Millions) Discounted @ 8.9%	CN¥1.1k	CN¥1.2k	CN¥1.2k	CN¥1.2k	CN¥1.2k	CN¥1.1k	CN¥1.1k	CN¥1.0k	CN¥990	CN¥935

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CN¥11b

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after 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 (2.2%) 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 8.9%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = CN¥2.2b× (1 + 2.2%) ÷ (8.9%– 2.2%) = CN¥33b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= CN¥33b÷ ( 1 + 8.9%)¹⁰= CN¥14b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is CN¥25b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$18.6, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 30% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

The Assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the 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 Atour Lifestyle 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 8.9%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.105. 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.

Next Steps:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. Can we work out why the company is trading at a discount to intrinsic value? For Atour Lifestyle Holdings, we've compiled three important aspects you should explore:

1. Financial Health: Does ATAT have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Future Earnings: How does ATAT'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. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American 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.