Is It Too Late To Consider Buying NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR)?

NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTGR), which is in the communications business, and is based in United States, saw a significant share price rise of over 20% in the past couple of months on the NASDAQGS. Less-covered, small caps sees more of an opportunity for mispricing due to the lack of information available to the public, which can be a good thing. So, could the stock still be trading at a low price relative to its actual value? Let’s take a look at NETGEAR’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists.

Check out our latest analysis for NETGEAR

What's the opportunity in NETGEAR?

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 27.34x is currently trading slightly above its industry peers’ ratio of 24.77x, which means if you buy NETGEAR today, you’d be paying a relatively sensible price for it. And if you believe NETGEAR should be trading in this range, then there isn’t really any room for the share price grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. In addition to this, it seems like NETGEAR’s share price is quite stable, which could mean there may be less chances to buy low in the future now that it’s trading around the price multiples of other industry peers. This is because the stock is less volatile than the wider market given its low beta.

What does the future of NETGEAR look like?

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. Though in the case of NETGEAR, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting top-line growth of 7.2% in the next few years, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for the company, at least in the near term.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in NTGR’s growth outlook, with shares trading around industry price multiples. However, there are also other important factors which we haven’t considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at NTGR? 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 an eye on NTGR, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the positive growth outlook may mean it’s worth diving deeper into other factors 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 NETGEAR. You can find everything you need to know about NETGEAR in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in NETGEAR, 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.

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