Is It Time To Consider Buying Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)?

While Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) might not have the largest market cap around , it saw a decent share price growth of 12% on the NYSE over the last few months. While good news for shareholders, the company has traded much higher in the past year. As a stock with high coverage by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company’s outlook is already priced into the stock. However, what if the stock is still a bargain? Let’s take a look at Herbalife’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists.

See our latest analysis for Herbalife

What's The Opportunity In Herbalife?

Great news for investors – Herbalife is still trading at a fairly cheap price according to our price multiple model, where we compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. We’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 6.29x is currently well-below the industry average of 25.1x, meaning that it is trading at a cheaper price relative to its peers. However, given that Herbalife’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us another chance to buy in the future. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

Can we expect growth from Herbalife?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. With profit expected to grow by 77% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Herbalife. 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? Since HLF is currently trading below the industry PE ratio, it may be a great time to increase your holdings in the stock. With an optimistic profit outlook on the horizon, it seems like this growth has not yet been fully factored into the share price. However, there are also other factors such as financial health to consider, which could explain the current price multiple.

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping an eye on HLF for a while, now might be the time to make a leap. Its buoyant future profit outlook isn’t fully reflected in the current share price yet, which means it’s not too late to buy HLF. But before you make any investment decisions, consider other factors such as the track record of its management team, in order to make a well-informed assessment.

In light of this, if you'd like to do more analysis on the company, it's vital to be informed of the risks involved. For instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for Herbalife (2 can't be ignored) you should be familiar with.

If you are no longer interested in Herbalife, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

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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.