Estimating The Fair Value Of NVR, Inc. (NYSE:NVR)

Key Insights

• The projected fair value for NVR is US$7,904 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

• With US$7,818 share price, NVR appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

• Analyst price target for NVR is US$8,136, which is 2.9% above our fair value estimate

Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of NVR, Inc. (NYSE:NVR) as an investment opportunity by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for NVR

The Method

We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. 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.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF ($, Millions)	US$1.61b	US$1.62b	US$1.59b	US$1.59b	US$1.59b	US$1.61b	US$1.63b	US$1.65b	US$1.69b	US$1.72b
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x1	Analyst x1	Est @ -1.66%	Est @ -0.48%	Est @ 0.35%	Est @ 0.93%	Est @ 1.34%	Est @ 1.63%	Est @ 1.82%	Est @ 1.96%
Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.0%	US$1.5k	US$1.4k	US$1.3k	US$1.2k	US$1.1k	US$1.0k	US$951	US$895	US$844	US$796

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$11b

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.3%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 8.0%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$1.7b× (1 + 2.3%) ÷ (8.0%– 2.3%) = US$31b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= US$31b÷ ( 1 + 8.0%)¹⁰= US$14b

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$25b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$7.8k, the company appears about fair value at a 1.1% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind.

dcf

The 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 NVR 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 8.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.240. 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.

SWOT Analysis for NVR

Strength

• Debt is not viewed as a risk.

Weakness

• Earnings declined over the past year.

Opportunity

• Current share price is below our estimate of fair value.

Threat

• Annual earnings are forecast to decline for the next 3 years.

Next Steps:

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. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For NVR, we've put together three important factors you should explore:

1. Risks: Be aware that NVR is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is concerning...

2. Future Earnings: How does NVR'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 Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

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.