HOCHTIEF Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:HOT), might not be a large cap stock, but it maintained its current share price over the past couple of month on the XTRA, with a relatively tight range of €104 to €112. However, does this price actually reflect the true value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Let’s take a look at HOCHTIEF’s outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

View our latest analysis for HOCHTIEF

What's The Opportunity In HOCHTIEF?

The share price seems sensible at the moment according to our price multiple model, where we compare the company's price-to-earnings ratio to the industry average. 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 HOCHTIEF’s ratio of 12.05x is trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 13.08x, which means if you buy HOCHTIEF today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe that HOCHTIEF 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. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because HOCHTIEF’s beta (a measure of share price volatility) is high, meaning its price movements will be exaggerated relative to the rest of the market. If the market is bearish, the company’s shares will likely fall by more than the rest of the market, providing a prime buying opportunity.

What does the future of HOCHTIEF look like?

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. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so let’s also take a look at the company's future expectations. Though in the case of HOCHTIEF, it is expected to deliver a relatively unexciting earnings growth of 3.8%, which doesn’t help build up its investment thesis. Growth doesn’t appear to be a main reason for a buy decision for the company, at least in the near term.

What This Means For You

Are you a shareholder? HOT’s 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 HOT? Will you have enough conviction to buy should the price fluctuate below the industry PE ratio?