Is There An Opportunity With Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd.'s (SGX:BS6) 49% Undervaluation?

In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd. (SGX:BS6) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. This is done using the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. 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. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model.

See our latest analysis for Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings)

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. 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.

A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Levered FCF (CN¥, Millions)	CN¥3.17b	CN¥3.26b	CN¥3.34b	CN¥3.42b	CN¥3.49b	CN¥3.56b	CN¥3.62b	CN¥3.69b	CN¥3.76b	CN¥3.83b
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Analyst x3	Analyst x2	Est @ 2.41%	Est @ 2.21%	Est @ 2.07%	Est @ 1.98%	Est @ 1.91%	Est @ 1.86%	Est @ 1.83%	Est @ 1.8%
Present Value (CN¥, Millions) Discounted @ 9.2%	CN¥2.9k	CN¥2.7k	CN¥2.6k	CN¥2.4k	CN¥2.2k	CN¥2.1k	CN¥2.0k	CN¥1.8k	CN¥1.7k	CN¥1.6k

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = CN¥22b

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 10-year government bond rate (1.8%) 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 9.2%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₂₉ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = CN¥3.8b× (1 + 1.8%) ÷ 9.2%– 1.8%) = CN¥52b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= CN¥52b÷ ( 1 + 9.2%)¹⁰= CN¥22b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is CN¥44b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of S$1.1, the company appears quite undervalued at a 49% discount to where the stock price trades currently. 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.

SGX:BS6 Intrinsic value, December 8th 2019

Important assumptions

We would point out that 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 Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) 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 9.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.176. 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.

Next Steps:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. 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. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings), There are three pertinent aspects you should look at:

1. Financial Health: Does BS6 have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.

2. Future Earnings: How does BS6'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 High Quality Alternatives: Are there other high quality stocks you could be holding instead of BS6? 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 SGX every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here.

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.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.