A Look At The Fair Value Of Hour Loop, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOUR)

Key Insights

• Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Hour Loop fair value estimate is US$1.08

• With US$1.20 share price, Hour Loop appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value

• Peers of Hour Loop are currently trading on average at a 27% discount

Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Hour Loop, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOUR) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. 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 Hour Loop

Step By Step Through The Calculation

We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last 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, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast

	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032	2033
Levered FCF ($, Millions)	US$1.67m	US$1.77m	US$1.86m	US$1.94m	US$2.01m	US$2.08m	US$2.14m	US$2.20m	US$2.26m	US$2.32m
Growth Rate Estimate Source	Est @ 7.88%	Est @ 6.23%	Est @ 5.07%	Est @ 4.27%	Est @ 3.70%	Est @ 3.30%	Est @ 3.03%	Est @ 2.83%	Est @ 2.70%	Est @ 2.60%
Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 7.3%	US$1.6	US$1.5	US$1.5	US$1.5	US$1.4	US$1.4	US$1.3	US$1.3	US$1.2	US$1.2

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)
Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$14m

We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.4%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 7.3%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF₂₀₃₃ × (1 + g) ÷ (r – g) = US$2.3m× (1 + 2.4%) ÷ (7.3%– 2.4%) = US$49m

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)¹⁰= US$49m÷ ( 1 + 7.3%)¹⁰= US$24m

The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$38m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$1.2, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

dcf

Important 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 Hour Loop 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 1.063. 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.

SWOT Analysis for Hour Loop

Strength

• Debt is well covered by cash flow.

Weakness

• Interest payments on debt are not well covered.

• Current share price is above our estimate of fair value.

Opportunity

• Has sufficient cash runway for more than 3 years based on current free cash flows.

• Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine HOUR's earnings prospects.

Threat

• No apparent threats visible for HOUR.

Next Steps:

Whilst important, the DCF calculation ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Hour Loop, we've put together three pertinent elements you should further research:

1. Risks: For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Hour Loop (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

2. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

3. Other Top Analyst Picks: Interested to see what the analysts are thinking? Take a look at our interactive list of analysts' top stock picks to find out what they feel might have an attractive future outlook!

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.

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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.