Estimating The Fair Value Of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC)

Key Insights

• Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Lincoln Educational Services fair value estimate is US$6.71
• Current share price of US$5.71 suggests Lincoln Educational Services is potentially trading close to its fair value
• Our fair value estimate is 15% lower than Lincoln Educational Services' analyst price target of US$7.88

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Lincoln Educational Services

The Method

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 begin with, we have to get estimates of 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.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, 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

	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032
Levered FCF ($, Millions)	-US$48.0m	US$22.4m	US$20.4m	US$19.2m	US$18.6m	US$18.3m	US$18.2m	US$18.2m	US$18.4m	US$18.6m
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x1	Analyst x1	Est @ -8.94%	Est @ -5.64%	Est @ -3.33%	Est @ -1.71%	Est @ -0.57%	Est @ 0.22%	Est @ 0.77%	Est @ 1.16%
Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.1%	-US$44.4	US$19.2	US$16.1	US$14.1	US$12.6	US$11.5	US$10.5	US$9.8	US$9.1	US$8.5

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$67m

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. 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 2.1%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.1%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₂ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$19m× (1 + 2.1%) ÷ (8.1%– 2.1%) = US$314m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= US$314m÷ ( 1 + 8.1%)¹⁰= US$144m

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$211m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of US$5.7, the company appears about fair value at a 15% 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.

Important Assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. 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 Lincoln Educational Services 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 8.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.015. 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 Lincoln Educational Services

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, 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. 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. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Lincoln Educational Services, we've compiled three additional items you should look at:

1. Risks: Be aware that Lincoln Educational Services is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...
2. Future Earnings: How does LINC'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 American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.