Do Analysts Know Something We Don't About CTLT?


Today shares of Catalent have fallen -3.4%, to a price of $45.6. Since it has an average rating of buy, many investors will be using today as an opportunity to buy the dip. But what if the stock is overvalued? Don't blindly trust analyst ratings before looking at the fundamentals yourself!

The most common valuation metric for stocks is the trailing price to earnings (P/E) ratio. Catalent has a P/E ratio of 20.8 based on its 12 month trailing earnings per share of $2.19. Considering its future earnings estimates of $3.76 per share, the stock's forward P/E ratio is 12.1. In comparison, the average P/E ratio of the Healthcare sector is 13.21 and the average P/E ratio of the S&P 500 is 15.97.

Catalent's P/E ratio tells us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of the company's earnings. The problem with this metric is that it doesn't take into account the expected growth in earnings of the stock. Sometimes elevated P/E ratios can be justified by equally elevated growth expectations.

We can solve this inconsistency by dividing the company's trailing P/E ratio by its five year earnings growth estimate, which in this case gives us a 1.61 Price to Earnings Growth (PEG) ratio. Since the PEG ratio is greater than 1, the company's lofty valuation is not justified by its growth levels.

We can also compare the ratio of Catalent's market price to its book value, which gives us the price to book, or P/B ratio. A company's book value refers to its present liquidation value -- or what would be left if the company sold off all its assets and paid off all of its debts today. Importantly, the book value does not include intangible assets such as the value of its brand and the goodwill of its customers. CTLT has a P/B ratio of 1.7, with any figure close to or below one indicating a potentially undervalued company.

A comparison of the share price versus company earnings and book value should be balanced by an analysis of the company's ability to pay its liabilities. One popular metric is the Quick Ratio, or Acid Test, which is the company's current assets minus its inventory and prepaid expenses divided by its current liabilities. Catalent's quick ratio is 1.858. Generally speaking, a quick ratio above 1 signifies that the company is able to meet its liabilities.

The last factor we will review in our value analysis of Catalent is its levered free cash flow, which is negative at $-221,000,000.00. The levered free cash flow represents the sum of all of the company's inflows and outflows of capital in the last quarter. A negative value means that Catalent has no cash left over to re-invest in the business or to pay equity investors in the form of a dividend.

With most indicators pointing at a higher than average valuation with uncertain growth prospects, most analysts are either wrong about Catalent, or their research has uncovered one or more qualitative reasons to invest in the stock. For example, the strength of the management team and their plan for executing the business strategy may have convinced some analysts to give less weight to traditional quantitative factors.

The above analysis is intended for educational purposes only and was performed on the basis of publicly available data. It is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any buy, sell, or other recommendations mentioned in the article are direct quotations of consensus recommendations from the analysts covering the stock, and do not represent the opinions of Market Inference or its writers. Past performance, accounting data, and inferences about market position and corporate valuation are not reliable indicators of future price movements. Market Inference does not provide financial advice. Investors should conduct their own review and analysis of any company of interest before making an investment decision.

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