A Look At The Fair Value Of Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO)
Key Insights
Antofagasta's estimated fair value is UK£11.98 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity
With UK£13.24 share price, Antofagasta appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value
Analyst price target for ANTO is US$14.48, which is 21% above our fair value estimate
Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example!
Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.
See our latest analysis for Antofagasta
The Model
We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.
Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:
10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast
2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 | 2032 | 2033 | |
Levered FCF ($, Millions) | US$598.5m | -US$54.2m | US$871.0m | US$976.1m | US$1.06b | US$1.13b | US$1.19b | US$1.24b | US$1.28b | US$1.31b |
Growth Rate Estimate Source | Analyst x6 | Analyst x5 | Analyst x1 | Est @ 12.06% | Est @ 8.86% | Est @ 6.62% | Est @ 5.04% | Est @ 3.95% | Est @ 3.18% | Est @ 2.64% |
Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 8.4% | US$552 | -US$46.2 | US$684 | US$708 | US$711 | US$700 | US$678 | US$651 | US$619 | US$587 |
("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$5.8b
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 1.4%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.4%.
Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2033 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$1.3b× (1 + 1.4%) ÷ (8.4%– 1.4%) = US$19b
Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$19b÷ ( 1 + 8.4%)10= US$8.5b
The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$14b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of UK£13.2, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.
The Assumptions
Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own 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 Antofagasta 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 8.4%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.182. 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 Antofagasta
Strength
Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.
Debt is not viewed as a risk.
Weakness
Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Metals and Mining market.
Opportunity
Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the British market.
Good value based on P/E ratio compared to estimated Fair P/E ratio.
Threat
Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows.
Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the British market.
Moving On:
Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching 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?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Antofagasta, we've put together three further elements you should explore:
Risks: To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Antofagasta .
Future Earnings: How does ANTO'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.
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 LSE 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.