Yahoo Finance What Is PG&E Corporation's (NYSE:PCG) Share Price Doing?
Let's talk about the popular PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG). The company's shares received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the NYSE over the last few months, increasing to US$18.16 at one point, and dropping to the lows of US$16.06. Some share price movements can give investors a better opportunity to enter into the stock, and potentially buy at a lower price. A question to answer is whether PG&E's current trading price of US$16.60 reflective of the actual value of the large-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at PG&E’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.
See our latest analysis for PG&E
Is PG&E Still Cheap?
According to our price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average, the stock price seems to be justfied. In this instance, we’ve used the price-to-earnings (PE) ratio given that there is not enough information to reliably forecast the stock’s cash flows. We find that PG&E’s ratio of 15.8x is trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 17.51x, which means if you buy PG&E today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe that PG&E should be trading at this level in the long run, then there’s not much of an upside to gain over and above other industry peers. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that PG&E’s share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.
What kind of growth will PG&E generate?
Future outlook is an important aspect when you’re looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. 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. With profit expected to grow by 43% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for PG&E. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.
What This Means For You
Are you a shareholder? PCG’s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, 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 PCG? 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 tabs on PCG, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for PCG, which means it’s worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.
With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. For example, we've found that PG&E has 3 warning signs (1 is concerning!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.
If you are no longer interested in PG&E, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.
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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.
