Should You Investigate H.B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL) At US$25.28?

H.B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL), which is in the chemicals business, and is based in United States, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NYSE over the last few months, increasing to US$51.96 at one point, and dropping to the lows of US$25.28. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether H.B. Fuller's current trading price of US$25.28 reflective of the actual value of the small-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at H.B. Fuller’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

Check out our latest analysis for H.B. Fuller

What's the opportunity in H.B. Fuller?

According to my price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average, the stock price seems to be justfied. In this instance, I’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. I find that H.B. Fuller’s ratio of 9.84x is trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 13.86x, which means if you buy H.B. Fuller today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe H.B. Fuller should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price to grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that H.B. Fuller’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 an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

What kind of growth will H.B. Fuller generate?

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. With profit expected to grow by 58% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for H.B. Fuller. 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? FUL’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at FUL? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the industry PE ratio?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on FUL, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the optimistic forecast is encouraging for FUL, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on H.B. Fuller. You can find everything you need to know about H.B. Fuller in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in H.B. Fuller, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.