Benjamin Graham taught that Intelligent Investors must do a thorough fundamental analysis of investment opportunities to determine their intrinsic value and inherent risk.  This is best done by utilizing a systematic approach to analysis that will provide investors with a sense of how a specific company compares to another company or by reviewing the 10 Most Undervalued Companies for the Defensive Investor – August 2015. By using the ModernGraham method one can review a company’s historical accomplishments and determine an intrinsic value that can be compared across industries.  What follows is a stock analysis showing a specific look at how NetApp Inc. (NTAP) fares in the ModernGraham valuation model.
Company Profile (obtained from Google Finance): NetApp, Inc. (NetApp) is engaged in providing software, systems and services to manage and store customer data. The Company offers a portfolio of products and services to a range of customer workloads across various data types and deployment models. Its data management solutions enable customers on-premises or in a public cloud resource to control, integrate, move and manage it. It offers both all-flash arrays and hybrid flash arrays and its portfolio includes hybrid and all-flash storage offerings. The Company also offers FlexPod solutions for workloads, such as big data, HPC and video analytics that integrate Hadoop. Its scale-out fabric-attached storage (FAS) platform uses the NetApp Data ONTAP storage operating system. Its Data ONTAP software delivers data protection, data management and software for virtualized, shared infrastructures, cloud computing and mixed workload business applications. The Company focuses on the data management and storage markets.
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Downloadable PDF version of this valuation:
ModernGraham Valuation of NTAP – September 2015
Stage 1: Is this company suitable for the Defensive Investor or the Enterprising Investor?
What kind of Intelligent Investor are you?
| Defensive Investor; must pass 6 out of the following 7 tests. | ||||
| 1. Adequate Size of the Enterprise | Market Cap > $2Bil | $8,625,837,578 | Pass | |
| 2. Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition | Current Ratio > 2 | 2.47 | Pass | |
| 3. Earnings Stability | Positive EPS for 10 years prior | Pass | ||
| 4. Dividend Record | Dividend Payments for 10 years prior | Fail | ||
| 5. Earnings Growth | Increase of 33% in EPS in past 10 years using 3 year averages at beginning and end | 202.12% | Pass | |
| 6. Moderate PEmg Ratio | PEmg < 20 | 15.98 | Pass | |
| 7. Moderate Price to Assets | PB Ratio < 2.5 OR PB*PEmg < 50 | 2.96 | Pass | |
| Score | ||||
| Enterprising Investor; must pass 4 out of the following 5 tests, or be suitable for the Defensive Investor. | ||||
| 1. Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition | Current Ratio > 1.5 | 2.47 | Pass | |
| 2. Sufficiently Strong Financial Condition | Debt to NCA < 1.1 | 0.41 | Pass | |
| 3. Earnings Stability | Positive EPS for 5 years prior | Pass | ||
| 4. Dividend Record | Currently Pays Dividend | Pass | ||
| 5. Earnings Growth | EPSmg greater than 5 years ago | Pass | ||
Stage 2: Determination of Intrinsic Value
| EPSmg | $1.83 |
| MG Growth Estimate | 6.11% |
| MG Value | $37.94 |
| Opinion | Fairly Valued |
| MG Value based on 3% Growth | $26.54 |
| MG Value based on 0% Growth | $15.56 |
| Market Implied Growth Rate | 3.74% |
| Current Price | $29.25 |
| % of Intrinsic Value | 77.10% |
NetApp Inc. qualifies for both the Defensive Investor and the Enterprising Investor.  The Defensive Investor’s only concern is the short dividend history while the Enterprising Investor has no initial concerns. As a result, all value investors following the ModernGraham approach based on Benjamin Graham’s methods should feel comfortable proceeding with further research into the company.
As for a valuation, the company appears to be fairly valued after growing its EPSmg (normalized earnings) from $1.30 in 2012 to an estimated $1.83 for 2016.  This level of demonstrated earnings growth supports the market’s implied estimate of 3.74% annual earnings growth over the next 7-10 years. As a result, the ModernGraham valuation model, based on Benjamin Graham’s formula, returns an estimate of intrinsic value within a margin of safety relative to the price.
The next part of the analysis is up to individual investors, and requires discussion of the company’s prospects.  What do you think?  What value would you put on NetApp Inc. (NTAP)?  Where do you see the company going in the future?  Is there a company you like better?  Leave a comment on our Facebook page or mention @ModernGraham on Twitter to discuss.
Stage 3: Information for Further Research
| Net Current Asset Value (NCAV) | $1.39 |
| Graham Number | $22.00 |
| PEmg | 15.98 |
| Current Ratio | 2.47 |
| PB Ratio | 2.96 |
| Dividend Yield | 2.31% |
| Number of Consecutive Years of Dividend Growth | 3 |
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Most Recent Balance Sheet Figures
| Total Current Assets | $6,119,000,000 |
| Total Current Liabilities | $2,480,000,000 |
| Long-Term Debt | $1,488,000,000 |
| Total Assets | $8,697,000,000 |
| Intangible Assets | $1,091,000,000 |
| Total Liabilities | $5,697,000,000 |
| Shares Outstanding (Diluted Average) | 304,000,000 |
Earnings Per Share History
| Next Fiscal Year Estimate | $2.13 |
| Apr15 | $1.75 |
| Apr14 | $1.83 |
| Apr13 | $1.37 |
| Apr12 | $1.58 |
| Apr11 | $1.71 |
| Apr10 | $1.13 |
| Apr09 | $0.26 |
| Apr08 | $0.86 |
| Apr07 | $0.77 |
| Apr06 | $0.69 |
| Apr05 | $0.59 |
| Apr04 | $0.42 |
| Apr03 | $0.22 |
| Apr02 | $0.01 |
| Apr01 | $0.21 |
| Apr00 | $0.21 |
| Apr99 | $0.12 |
| Apr98 | $0.07 |
| Apr97 | $0.00 |
| Apr96 | $0.03 |
Earnings Per Share – ModernGraham History
| Next Fiscal Year Estimate | $1.83 |
| Apr15 | $1.67 |
| Apr14 | $1.59 |
| Apr13 | $1.39 |
| Apr12 | $1.30 |
| Apr11 | $1.09 |
| Apr10 | $0.77 |
| Apr09 | $0.60 |
| Apr08 | $0.74 |
| Apr07 | $0.63 |
| Apr06 | $0.50 |
| Apr05 | $0.37 |
| Apr04 | $0.24 |
| Apr03 | $0.15 |
| Apr02 | $0.12 |
| Apr01 | $0.16 |
| Apr00 | $0.12 |
Recommended Reading:
Other ModernGraham posts about the company
Other ModernGraham posts about related companies
Disclaimer:
The author did not hold a position in any company mentioned in this article at the time of publication and had no intention of changing that position within the next 72 hours.  See my current holdings here.  This article is not investment advice; any reader should speak to a registered investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions.  ModernGraham is not affiliated with the company in any manner.  Please be sure to review our detailed disclaimer.
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