Today is Tuesday, March 19, 2019 and here’s your daily small cap valuation.
Scholastic Corp (NASDAQ: SCHL) is a small-cap stock that could have a lot of potential. But it’s hard to value smaller companies like this. Conventional valuation metrics like price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, profit margin, and return on equity (ROE) may not be available for them.
To get a sense of Scholastic Corp’s true valuation, let’s compare it to its industry peers — and to itself one year ago. We’ll look at four small cap valuation metrics…
Price-to-Book Value (P/B) Ratio
Scholastic Corp’s price-to-book value (P/B) ratio of 1.091 is 70.26% lower than its industry average of 3.668. That’s good. A low P/B ratio indicates that the company has a solid balance sheet — and that based on its balance sheet, the stock is trading for unusually cheap.
Free Cash Flow Yield (FCF/Enterprise Value)
Scholastic Corp’s free cash flow yield (FCF/EV) of -0.78% is 127.46% lower than its industry average of 2.84%. That’s not good. This metric compares free cash flow (the amount of cash left over after all expenses and capital expenditures have been paid) with enterprise value (a comprehensive alternative to market cap that includes cash and debt).
A low free cash flow yield indicates that a company is performing inefficiently — or that it’s struggling with the debt on its books.
Earnings per Share (EPS) Growth
Scholastic Corp has not grown its earnings per share (EPS) in the last year. That’s not good. Negative earnings aren’t the end of the world — they’re fairly common among smaller, newer companies — but if earnings are falling over time, that’s definitely a bad sign.
Gross Margin Growth
Scholastic Corp has not grown its gross margin in the last year. That’s not good. It indicates that the company is making less money from its operations over time.
The Takeaway
Scholastic Corp scored favorably on 1 of our 4 valuation metrics. With this in mind, we believe the stock is slightly overvalued.
We’ve been keeping an eye on a set of small-cap stocks that are a better value than Scholastic Corp. These stocks have the potential for bigger gains — and they’re far less risky than the speculative small caps many investors gamble on. Enter your email below to learn more.
P.S. Got another small-cap stock you want us to test with our valuation metrics? Leave the ticker symbol in the comments below.
