An Intrinsic Calculation For HUYA Inc. (NYSE:HUYA) Suggests It's 23% Undervalued

Key Insights

• The projected fair value for HUYA is US$4.07 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity
• Current share price of US$3.13 suggests HUYA is potentially 23% undervalued
• Analyst price target for HUYA is CN¥4.41, which is 8.4% above our fair value estimate

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of HUYA Inc. (NYSE:HUYA) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. 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. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for HUYA

The Model

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. 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 discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF (CN¥, Millions)	CN¥181.2m	CN¥168.1m	CN¥357.0m	CN¥442.5m	CN¥506.3m	CN¥560.6m	CN¥606.2m	CN¥644.6m	CN¥677.2m	CN¥705.5m
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x9	Analyst x8	Analyst x2	Analyst x2	Est @ 14.42%	Est @ 10.72%	Est @ 8.14%	Est @ 6.33%	Est @ 5.06%	Est @ 4.18%
Present Value (CN¥, Millions) Discounted @ 9.2%	CN¥166	CN¥141	CN¥274	CN¥311	CN¥326	CN¥331	CN¥327	CN¥319	CN¥307	CN¥293

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CN¥2.8b

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. 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 9.2%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = CN¥706m× (1 + 2.1%) ÷ (9.2%– 2.1%) = CN¥10b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= CN¥10b÷ ( 1 + 9.2%)¹⁰= CN¥4.2b

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¥7.0b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$3.1, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 23% 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.

Important 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 HUYA 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 9.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.991. 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.

Moving On:

Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For HUYA, we've compiled three important aspects you should assess:

1. Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for HUYA you should know about.
2. Future Earnings: How does HUYA'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. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NYSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks 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.