WOW share price in focus

Founded in 1924, Woolworths is a retail operator in Australia and New Zealand with over 3,000 stores and over 100,000 employees. It is one of Australia’s largest companies in terms of revenue and market share.

Woolworths’ main operations include supermarkets (under the Woolworths brand in Australia and Countdown in New Zealand), retailing through its discount department stores under the Big W brand, and business-to-business (B2B) brands like PFD. However, its 35%+ market share of Australian groceries is undoubtedly its crown jewel.

Woolworths is a very popular choice for many ASX investors seeking dividend income. It consistently pays a fully franked dividend, usually at a yield of over 3%, and offers a very defensive earnings stream with most revenue coming from consumer staples. Its competitive advantage is best summarised as scale (distribution, low costs, etc.) and proximity (most shoppers still shop based on distance to the supermarket).

Since we consider Woolworths Group Ltd to be a blue chip stock, or a mature business, we like to look at things like return on invested capital (ROIC) and revenue growth as signs of sustainability. In FY23, Woolworths Group Ltd had an ROIC of 13.20% and revenue has compounded at 6.6% in recent years. Anything over 10% ROIC is pretty good for a mature-style business, since its cost of capital is likely below that level, so Woolworths Group Ltd crosses this hurdle.

SOL shares

Founded in 1903, Washington H. Soul Pattinson (WHSP) is an investment company with a diversified portfolio of assets across a range of industries and asset classes.

Some of SOL’s largest holdings include stakes in other well-known publicly listed companies such as TPG Telecom (ASX: TPG), New Hope Group (ASX: NHC) and a cross-shareholding in Brickworks (ASX: BKW).

SOL’s mission is to deliver superior returns to its shareholders by creating capital growth and steadily increasing dividends as a holding company. It’s the second-oldest publicly listed company on the ASX and has a strong track record of capital growth and dividends. In fact, it’s never missed a dividend payment since listing in 1903! It should be thought of as a family-run LIC, for the benefit of all shareholders (who are deeply aligned).

Share price valuation

One way to have a ‘fast read’ of where the WOW share price is, is to study something like dividend yield through time. Remember, the dividend yield is effectively the ‘cash flow’ to a share holder, but it can fluctuate year-to-year or between payments. Currently, Woolworths Group Ltd shares have a dividend yield of around 3.03%, which compares to its 5-year average of 2.88%. Put simply, WOW shares are trading above their historical average dividend yield.

Since it is a more mature-style business, the SOL share price is offering a 12-month trailing dividend yield of around 2.50%, which compares to its 5-year average of 2.52%. The Rask websites, especially our Rask Education platform, offer free tutorials explaining Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Dividend Discount Models (DDM). Both of these models would be a better way to value the SOL share price.