Calculating The Intrinsic Value Of Westrock Coffee Company (NASDAQ:WEST)

Key Insights

• Westrock Coffee's estimated fair value is US$11.89 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity

• With US$10.34 share price, Westrock Coffee appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

• Analyst price target for WEST is US$12.75, which is 7.3% above our fair value estimate

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Westrock Coffee Company (NASDAQ:WEST) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This will be done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine.

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

Check out our latest analysis for Westrock Coffee

Crunching The Numbers

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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF ($, Millions)	-US$132.3m	US$18.4m	US$25.4m	US$32.4m	US$38.9m	US$44.6m	US$49.6m	US$53.7m	US$57.3m	US$60.3m
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x1	Analyst x1	Est @ 38.28%	Est @ 27.51%	Est @ 19.97%	Est @ 14.69%	Est @ 11.00%	Est @ 8.41%	Est @ 6.60%	Est @ 5.34%
Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 6.1%	-US$125	US$16.4	US$21.3	US$25.6	US$29.0	US$31.4	US$32.8	US$33.6	US$33.7	US$33.5

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$133m

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 2.4%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.1%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$60m× (1 + 2.4%) ÷ (6.1%– 2.4%) = US$1.7b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= US$1.7b÷ ( 1 + 6.1%)¹⁰= US$932m

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$1.1b. 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$10.3, the company appears about fair value at a 13% 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

Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual 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 Westrock Coffee 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 6.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. 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 Westrock Coffee

Strength

• Debt is well covered by earnings.

Weakness

• Shareholders have been diluted in the past year.

Opportunity

• Forecast to reduce losses next year.

• Good value based on P/S ratio and estimated fair value.

Threat

• Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.

• Has less than 3 years of cash runway based on current free cash flow.

• Not expected to become profitable over the next 3 years.

Next Steps:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For Westrock Coffee, there are three important elements you should explore:

1. Risks: Be aware that Westrock Coffee is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is significant...

2. Future Earnings: How does WEST'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. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock 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.