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Is Now An Opportune Moment To Examine Spartan Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAR)?

Spartan Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPAR), which is in the machinery business, and is based in United States, led the NASDAQGS gainers with a relatively large price hike in the past couple of weeks. As a small cap stock, hardly covered by any analysts, there is generally more of an opportunity for mispricing as there is less activity to push the stock closer to fair value. Is there still an opportunity here to buy? Let’s examine Spartan Motors’s valuation and outlook in more detail to determine if there’s still a bargain opportunity.

See our latest analysis for Spartan Motors

What's the opportunity in Spartan Motors?

According to my price multiple model, which makes a comparison between the company's price-to-earnings ratio and the industry average, the stock price seems to be justfied. I’ve used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because there’s not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stock’s ratio of 11.71x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers’ ratio of 15.44x, which means if you buy Spartan Motors today, you’d be paying a reasonable price for it. And if you believe Spartan Motors should be trading in this range, then there isn’t much room for the share price to grow beyond the levels of other industry peers over the long-term. Although, there may be an opportunity to buy in the future. This is because Spartan Motors’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 kind of growth will Spartan Motors generate?

NasdaqGS:SPAR Past and Future Earnings April 8th 2020
NasdaqGS:SPAR Past and Future Earnings April 8th 2020

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Although value investors would argue that it’s the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. With profit expected to grow by 28% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Spartan Motors. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? It seems like the market has already priced in SPAR’s positive outlook, 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 SPAR? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below the industry PE ratio?

Are you a potential investor? If you’ve been keeping tabs on SPAR, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around industry price multiples. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for SPAR, which means it’s worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters – the fundamentals – before you make a decision on Spartan Motors. You can find everything you need to know about Spartan Motors in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Spartan Motors, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.