By Rob Otman
Sonic (Nasdaq: SONC) is a $2 billion company today. Investors that bought shares one year ago are sitting on a 3.2% total return. That’s below the S&P 500’s return of 21.56%.
Sonic stock is underperforming the market. It’s beaten down, but it reports earnings soon. So is it a good time to buy? To answer this question, we’ve turned to the Investment U Stock Grader. Our Research Team built this system to diagnose the financial health of a company.
Our system looks at six key metrics…
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✗ Earnings-per-Share (EPS) Growth: Sonic reported a recent EPS growth rate of -7.41%. That’s below the hotels, restaurants and leisure industry average of 12.2%. That’s not a good sign. We like to see companies that have higher earnings growth.
✓ Price-to-Earnings (P/E): The average price-to-earnings ratio of the hotels, restaurants and leisure industry is 43.56. And Sonic’s ratio comes in at 21.83. It’s trading at a better value than many of its competitors.
✓ Debt-to-Equity: The debt-to-equity ratio for Sonic stock is 0%. That’s below the hotels, restaurants and leisure industry average of 79.65%. The company is less leveraged.
✓ Free Cash Flow per Share Growth: Sonic’s FCF has been higher than that of its competitors over the last year. That’s good for investors. In general, if a company is growing its FCF, it will be able to pay down debt, buy back stock, pay out more in dividends and/or invest money back into the business to help boost growth. It’s one of our most important fundamental factors.
✓ Profit Margins: The profit margin of Sonic comes in at 16.86% today. And generally, the higher, the better. We also like to see this margin above that of its competitors. Sonic’s profit margin is above the hotels, restaurants and leisure average of 6.11%. So that’s a positive indicator for investors.
✗ Return on Equity: Return on equity tells us how much profit a company produces with the money shareholders invest. The ROE for Sonic is 0%, and that’s below its industry average ROE of 9.91%.
Sonic stock passes four of our six key metrics today. That’s why our Investment U Stock Grader rates it as a Buy With Caution.
Please note that our fundamental factor checklist is just the first step in performing your own due diligence. There are many other factors you should consider before investing. That’s why The Oxford Club offers more than a dozen newsletters and trading advisories all aimed at helping investors grow and maintain their wealth.
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Source:: Investment You
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