Is pets at home worth a punt?

With an update due this Tuesday, I am wondering if this is worth a go? Stock performs consistently with margins growing yearly.

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Aware you posted this in Nov last year but I reckon now is a solid time, I entered new position today after this sharp 5% morning drop at around 312p, thats:

10% Free cash flow yield
13-14 P/E
Dividend trailing yield of 3%, likely to rise to 3.5-4% as they will distribute 50% of profits

I can also see either sizeable buybacks if stock price stays low or special dividends in next 1-2 years as cash generation is pretty tasty right now.
Arguably a solid consumer play in a bumpy consumer environment as we wont stop feeding/caring for our pets and even likely to spend on extra things for pets then other luxuries as they are a firm family member, no to mention the cash generation from vet side of things.

Anyone else a shareholder with interesting insights?

Sorry to be a bit of a bummer, but I suspect the share price is starting to normalise. :upside_down_face:

Agreed. Would not enter here.

Fair enough, so from both of your points of view its earnings will drop off significantly now I assume, otherwise if earnings stay solid then its certainly not expensive compared to the wider market.

Strong results today in the current economic and retail climate:

  • Revenue up 15%

  • Profit up about 40% overall, or up over 70% once you take out disposal profits in both years.

  • Dividend up 47% to 11.8p, or a yield of 3.8% on current 309p share price (last year dividend on todays price would be 2.6%)

  • 50m buyback announced, or >3% on todays prices, due to strong cash position.

For transparency these were my previous above comments, not too far off:

Their HQ is near my area so may look into it!

Yep worth looking into their last few results to see where growth is/isn’t and financial health etc. I wouldn’t make rash decisions just as its run up lots last couple days, I bought in several parts between 312p and 280p, sold bout a 5th of my position to take some profit and release cash in this environment that may give opportunities on dips on other positions.

But its still solid value at this point and holding rest of position, at 330p its now about 13 p/e, or 15 p/e when you take out one off income from a disposal. However as it increase like all things margin of safety decreases especially in this market. Still has a nice FCF though, depending on which calculation you use I peg it at about 8% FCF yield now, but in contrast if its price runs up a bit more then it gets the same valuation as something like Unilever which is <18 p/e with >6% FCF yield, so keep that in mind when deciding on consumer spending type stocks.

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