Is There An Opportunity With Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TRHC) 40% Undervaluation?

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRHC) by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today’s value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. Believe it or not, it’s not too difficult to follow, as you’ll see from our example!

We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model.

View our latest analysis for Tabula Rasa HealthCare

What’s the estimated valuation?

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, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today’s value:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

Levered FCF ($, Millions)

US$4.90m

US$16.6m

US$28.4m

US$46.1m

US$67.9m

US$85.1m

US$100.7m

US$114.2m

US$125.7m

US$135.3m

Growth Rate Estimate Source

Analyst x1

Analyst x2

Analyst x2

Analyst x2

Analyst x2

Est @ 25.32%

Est @ 18.34%

Est @ 13.45%

Est @ 10.03%

Est @ 7.63%

Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 7.3%

US$4.6

US$14.4

US$23.0

US$34.7

US$47.7

US$55.7

US$61.5

US$65.0

US$66.6

US$66.9

(“Est” = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$440m

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business’s cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.0%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today’s value at a cost of equity of 7.3%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2030 × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$135m× (1 + 2.0%) ÷ (7.3%– 2.0%) = US$2.6b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$2.6b÷ ( 1 + 7.3%)10= US$1.3b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$1.7b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$44.7, the company appears quite undervalued at a 40% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula – garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

dcf

The assumptions

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. If you don’t agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the 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 Tabula Rasa HealthCare 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 7.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.006. 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.

Moving On:

Although the valuation of a company is important, it shouldn’t be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Tabula Rasa HealthCare, we’ve put together three important factors you should assess:

  1. Risks: For instance, we’ve identified 4 warning signs for Tabula Rasa HealthCare that you should be aware of.

  2. Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market’s sentiment for TRHC’s future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors.

  3. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

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. 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.

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