Stifel has raised its recommendation on Freelance.com from 'hold' to 'buy', with the target price maintained at 3.8 euros, following a half-yearly publication showing a modest rise in pro forma EBITDA and a cautious outlook in a lackluster environment.
'However, we believe that the momentum could soon turn positive, with a gradual cyclical recovery expected in 2025, thanks to a fall in energy prices and lower interest rates', argues the broker.
What's more, the share is trading at a steep discount to its peers, while the free float is very low', adds Stifel, for whom the controlling shareholder could thus take advantage of the current low valuation to delist the company.
Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved. The information and analyses published by Cercle Finance are intended solely as a decision-making aid for investors. Cercle Finance cannot be held responsible, directly or indirectly, for the use of information and analyses by readers. Uninformed investors are advised to consult a professional advisor before investing. This information does not constitute an invitation to sell or a solicitation to buy.
Freelance.com specializes in providing intellectual services to large businesses, small and medium-sized businesses, and independent entrepreneurs. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- salary contracting (50.7%): the group offers independent workers the possibility of obtaining employee status, taking complete charge of their administrative, tax, legal, and corporate affairs;
- free-lance service (48.9%): services provided in the fields of computers (information system development and implementation, network architecture configuration, integration of ERP solutions, Internet technology design and implementation), consulting, marketing, communication and formation via more than 150,000 independent consultants. Moreover, Freelance.com develops operates an automated marketplace intended to connect computer service providers (computer service companies, consulting firms, etc.) with each other in order to optimize the management of their contracts with each other;
- other (0.4%).
This super rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Global Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (4 months), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Investor
Investor
This super composite rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Global Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (1 year), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Global
Global
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), Financial Estimates Revisions (Composite), Consensus (Composite), and Visibility (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 4 of these 5 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Quality
Quality
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Capital Efficiency (Composite), Quality of Financial Reporting (Composite), and Financial Health (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 2 of these 3 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
