Would you be interested if I told you that a growth stock delivered a blockbuster quarterly report, with revenue soaring 40% year over year to $62.2 million? Or with earnings skyrocketing 73% year over year to $0.61 a share, after analysts were banking on a profit of $0.46 a share with $57 million on the top line?
Would you care? Well, what if I could prove that Mr. Market doesn't care? After all, despite this morning's inspiring performance, Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) began the new trading week trading for just 11 times last year's earnings and just eight times this year's projected profitability.
Now, before you begin pointing out how there was no way that investors could have predicted this morning's blowout performance, let's take a step back. You're right about that, but you're wrong about Wall Street's perceptions. As of last week, analysts were expecting this Chinese leisure company to grow its bottom line by 29% this year and 21% next year. In other words, the stock was already ridiculously cheap, trading at a forward earnings multiple that's roughly a third of its growth rate. The pros will now have to jack up their targets, naturally.
If Perfect World doesn't ring a bell, you're not alone. The rapidly growing provider of online multiplayer games and experiences in China isn't exactly a household name, even if nearly 700,000 of its shares change hands on a typical trading day
Perfect World knows it's cheap. It has repurchased 1.7 million shares since October. And it can keep going. The company's balance sheet is stocked with $2.66 a share in cash and no long-term debt.
Perfect World isn't the only low-priced gem in this booming niche. Changyou.com (Nasdaq: CYOU), Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA), NetEase.com (Nasdaq: NTES), and Shanda Interactive (Nasdaq: SNDA) are all fetching between nine and 13 times next year's estimated net income. Perfect World just happens to be marginally cheaper.
Perfect World also has a diversified catalog of titles, including several that it has recently been licensing outside China. Owning franchises is an important strategy. The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY) got burned as an Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) promoter when Blizzard decided to hand World of Warcraft over to larger rival NetEase.
So who cares if Perfect World isn't a household word? The numbers are brutally convincing of the opportunities that you're missing out on.
Three more ways to play in China:
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