Is Now An Opportune Moment To Examine Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)?

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO), might not be a large cap stock, but it saw a significant share price rise of over 20% in the past couple of months on the NYSE. With many analysts covering the mid-cap stock, we may expect any price-sensitive announcements have already been factored into the stock’s share price. However, what if the stock is still a bargain? Let’s take a look at Onto Innovation’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists.

View our latest analysis for Onto Innovation

Is Onto Innovation Still Cheap?

The share price seems sensible at the moment according to my price multiple model, where I compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. I’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 17.97x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 17.38x, which means if you buy Onto Innovation today, you’d be paying a relatively sensible price for it. And if you believe that Onto Innovation should be trading at this level in the long run, then there should only be a fairly immaterial downside vs other industry peers. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since Onto Innovation’s share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

What kind of growth will Onto Innovation 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. However, with a negative profit growth of -11% expected next year, near-term growth certainly doesn’t appear to be a driver for a buy decision for Onto Innovation. This certainty tips the risk-return scale towards higher risk.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? ONTO seems priced close to industry peers right now, but given the uncertainty from negative returns in the future, this could be the right time to reduce the risk in your portfolio. Is your current exposure to the stock optimal for your total portfolio? And is the opportunity cost of holding a negative-outlook stock too high? Before you make a decision on ONTO, take a look at whether its fundamentals have changed.

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on ONTO for a while, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. This means there’s less benefit from mispricing. Furthermore, the negative growth outlook increases the risk of holding the stock. However, there are also other important factors we haven’t considered today, which can help gel your views on ONTO should the price fluctuate below the industry PE ratio.

With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Onto Innovation and you'll want to know about it.

If you are no longer interested in Onto Innovation, 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.