Stock Valuation: Marubeni Corp (8002)

Name of Company Country of Origin/ Exchange Traded Sector Stock Price
MARUBENI CORP Japan/
TSE
Consumer Defensive – Consumer Packaged Goods – Farm Products JPY850.80
@ 01 Aug 2018
COMPANY PROFILE Marubeni Corp produces and distributes all sorts of foods such as fodder, soy beans, grain, sugar, processed food and beverages, raw materials, foodstuffs for commercial use and agricultural and marine products.

Marubeni Corp is a general trading company. It focuses on both trading and business investments in grain fields, natural resource and energy fields, and power generation fields. Investing in farms, power plants, mines, transportation systems, and other distributors allows the company to sell resources to the world market. Marubeni has entered these various markets through multiple avenues. It may either acquire an existing business or develop an entire project internally. The two regions generating the most sales are Japan and the United States. Approximately half of sales derive from Japan, with another third coming from the United States.

Stock Code 8002
Stock Valuation Below

Marubeni Corp Price to Book

Price to Earnings, Price to Sales and Price to Cash Flow ratios all value a company based on what it is generating (i.e. profits, sales or cash flow). Price to Book ratio is different in that it values a company based on what it owns (i.e. its net assets). This is usually a suitable valuation indicator for a financial institution, which frequently revalues its assets and liabilities, or a company with huge asset base e.g. utilities company.
At the price of JPY850.80 as at 01 Aug 2018, Marubeni Corp is trading at a Price to Book Ratio of 0.8 times current book value.  This is a 7% premium to its historical average Price to Book Ratio of 0.7 times.
Is the stock overvalued? One should not just look at one indicator to determine the fair value of a stock.
ProThinker believes in using a combination of valuation methods to decide whether a stock is over or undervalued? The five ratios we use are Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, Price to Cash Flow, Price to Book and Dividend Yield. We use multiple methods to value a stock because each has its benefits as well as shortcomings. Price to Earnings and Price to Cash Flow Ratios relate stock price to profitability but are meaningless when the comany has negative earnings or cash flows. Price to Sales Ratio is more stable because sales are never negative. However, this does not tell us whether the company is able to sell profitably. Price to Book Ratio gives us an indication as to how much we are paying for the company’s assets but it is not directly related to the company’s profitability. Dividend Yield cannot be used for companies that are paying little to no dividends.
While it is important to value stocks based on multiple valuation methods, this often leads to differing views on valuation. One indicator may suggest that a stock is overvalued while another suggest that it is undervalued. This does not help an investor who needs to make a definite decision whether to buy, hold or sell the stock. That is why we advocate the use of a Composite Valuation Indicator, which is derived from the best combination of the five indicators above. A Composite Valuation Indicator will give you ONE conclusion on whether a stock is under or over valued.
To find out more about our valuation methodology, click here. 
Source of Data: Charts are from ProThinker Stock Report. Company description, historical financial statements data and price data are from gurufocus.com. Estimates are from gurufocus and/or 4-traders.com – Thomson Reuters.
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