XRO share price in focus
Xero was founded in 2006 in Wellington, New Zealand, by Rod Drury, who led the company until 2018. Employing more than 3,000 people, Xero helps millions of subscribers manage their accounting and tax obligations across the globe.
The cloud-based “beautiful accounting software” developed by Xero is primarily for accountants and bookkeepers to better service their small business customers.
Through Xero, small business owners and their advisors/accountants have access to real-time financial data and on any device. Xero provides its core cloud accounting software to customers in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and, to a lesser extent, the USA.
While it may be large, Xero Ltd is a growth stock, and so it requires a different set of rules and may not be straightforward to value at times. Studies have shown that over 5-10+ years, it’s top-line revenue growth which explains a stock’s performance. That’s why it’s good to see Xero Ltd is able to grow revenue at 26.4%, a strong clip.
COL shares
Coles is an Australian retailer providing customers with everyday products including fresh food, groceries, general merchandise, liquor, fuel and financial services. It was founded in 1914 in Victoria which it still calls its home base.
Coles was formerly owned by conglomerate Wesfarmers from 2007 until 2018, when it was spun-off and listed as a separate entity on the ASX under the ticker symbol ‘COL’. Coles’ earnings are dominated by the supermarkets side of the business, however, it partly or fully owns or operates adjacent businesses like flybuys, Liquorland, First Choice, Vintage Cellars, Coles Express and more.
While Coles is in a way the ‘little brother’ to Woolworths, it still controls a significant share of the Australian grocery market (about 28%). In its short time as its own listed entity, Coles has established itself as a handy and reliable dividend payer.
XRO share price valuation
As a growth company, one way to put a general prediction on the XRO share price could be to compare its price-to-sales multiple over time. Currently, Xero Ltd shares have a price-sales ratio of 14.38x, compared to its 5-year average of 18.65x, meaning its shares are trading below their historical average. This could mean that the share price has fallen, or sales have increased, or both. In the case of XRO, revenue has been growing over the last 3 years. Please keep in mind that context is important – and this is just one valuation technique. Investment decisions can’t just be based on one metric.
Since it is a more of a ‘blue chip’ company, we could look at the dividend yield of COL to determine its value. COL is offering a trailing dividend yield of around 3.78%, which compares to its 5-year average of 3.76%.The Rask websites offer free online investing courses, created by analysts explaining things like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Dividend Discount Models (DDM). They even include free valuation spreadsheets. Both of these models would be a better way to value the COL share price.”)
