A Quickie With Lear Corporation

My Disclaimer
I am not a licensed or registered investment professional, and I hold no shares of this company.

Risk
Past and future gains contained in this post are based on actual and anticipated earnings, actual and anticipated dividends, and actual and anticipated price appreciation. Valuations, while given as a specific amount, are always within a valuation range. Investors should be aware that any investment has the potential for loss, and past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Intent
I could waste a lot of your time with graphs, charts, and other assorted worthless information all intended to show you that I know something about something when it comes to this company, but the truth is, I know very little about this company. My intent with this post, is to provide you with a brief overview of my various company valuations, all based on the company’s most recent 10-K filing, so you can determine if you have any investment interest.

What They Do
Lear Corporation supplies seating and electrical distribution systems and related components to automotive manufacturers. The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in 2009. Listed competitors include Johnson and Johnson, Bostik SA, and Faurecia.

Short-Term Target
My current short-term target for the stock is $147.58, with an initial trailing stop set at $127.79. Based on a recent price of $129.74, upward price movement will find resistance at $132.16 and again at $135.50, with final resistance found at $142.25. Downward price movement will find support at $126.29 and again at $121.36, with final support found at $118.83.

Volatility
There are many different assorted metrics available to help investors determine the theoretical volatility of a stock as compared to the volatility of the entire market. To me, the beta ratio is the metric that is the most representative of a stock’s volatility. The beta ratio for this stock is 1.36, meaning this stock, will move 36% higher or lower than the overall movement of the market.

Quality of Earnings
A company’s earnings can be impacted by sources unrelated to the company’s day to day operations. These unrelated sources will distort a company’s earnings and consequently its fair value. Investors should always explore the sources of a company’s earnings to better understand potential valuation impacts. Considering the company’s earnings, 0% came from tax benefits while 0% came from sources unrelated to day to day operations.

Momentum Target
My momentum target for the stock is $346. Momentum targets are determined by integrating a company’s most recent annual EPS and year-over-year earnings growth, with the current yield of a 10-year treasury. Momentum investing often requires investors to trade in stocks that have already enjoyed significant gains while making no allowances for overall market corrections or the sustainability of a company’s earnings.

Growth Target
My growth target for the stock is $128. Growth targets are determined using a company’s year-over-year earnings growth, year-over-year PE growth, and year-over-year price growth.

Five Year Growth of $10K
If you had invested $10K in this stock five years ago (12/31/13), you would have received 127.89 shares of stock with a cost basis of $78.19 per share. Had you held the stock for five years and then closed your position (12/31/2018), you would have closed at $122.86 per share. During that holding period you would have collected $210 in dividends, and your initial $10K investment would have returned to you $15,713 a gain of 57%, excluding dividends.

Insider Transactions
The SEC classifies insiders as “management, officers or any beneficial owners with more than 10% class of a company’s security.” Insiders are required to abide by certain rules and fill out SEC forms every time they buy or sell company shares. In addition, to prevent insider trading, or benefiting illegally from material non-public information that their positions give them access to, the law prevents insiders from deposing of shares within six months of their purchase. This effectively bars insiders from profiting from quick trades based on their “insider” knowledge.

Over the past 12 months, the company has recorded 36 insider trades involving 238,447 shares of stock. Of those 36 insider trades, 17 were Buys involving 150,097 shares of stock, and 19 were Sells involving 88,350 shares of stock, creating an insider buy to sell ratio of roughly 1.7 to 1.

Prior Average Valuations
My average valuation for the prior five year period of FY 2013 through FY 2017 was $94. The stock price during that time period averaged $120, earnings averaged $12.25 per share, and the average PE Ratio was 10. The current PE Ratio is 6.

Cost of Common Equity
The cost of common equity is the minimum annual rate of return an investor should expect to earn when investing in shares of a particular company. I calculate this by adding the thirty-year treasury yield to the beta ratio for the stock multiplied by my default equity risk premium. My cost of common equity for this stock is 6.72%.

Fair Value Investing
Fair value investing, more commonly known as value investing, requires investors to consider a company’s overall financial condition including past and future earnings growth, free cash flow, both book and tangible book values, net current asset value, and many other valuation metrics. My fair value estimate for the stock is $253 and my target prices are derivatives of my fair value estimate.

Lear Corporation (NYSE: LEA) – FYE 12/2018 – UNDER VALUED – The stock is currently trading at levels below my most recent $152 initiate target. Please See Linked PDF Worksheet

There you are, short and to the point.

Wax
Posted on 07/16/19