Fact based stock research
Imperial Brands (LSE:IMB)

GB0004544929

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For every stock, we judge its performance against its peers and rank it on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher the rank, the better the stock performs than its peers. And, we do this for six investment strategies:
Value - shows how good of a value the stock is. Green is "inexpensive"; red is "expensive".

Growth - shows a company's growth potential. Green is "high growth" expected; red is "tough times ahead".

Safety - relates to the amount of debt a company has. Green is low debt level; red is high debt level.

Combined Financial - this isn't an average of the first three ranks but rather a consolidated view across several financial indicators. Green = good; red = tread carefully.

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Imperial Brands stock research in summary

imperialbrandsplc.comindex.html


ANALYSIS: With an Obermatt Combined Rank of 13 (worse than 87% compared with investment alternatives), Imperial Brands (Tobacco, United Kingdom) shares have lower financial characteristics compared with similar stocks. Shares of Imperial Brands are a good value (attractively priced) with a consolidated Value Rank of 71 (better than 71% of alternatives) but show below-average growth (Growth Rank of 10), and are riskily financed (Safety Rank of 10), which means above-average debt burdens. ...read more


RECOMMENDATION: A Combined Rank of 13, is a sell recommendation based on Imperial Brands's financial characteristics. As the company Imperial Brands's key financial metrics exhibit good value (Obermatt Value Rank of 71) but low growth (Obermatt Growth Rank of 10) and risky financing practices (Obermatt Safety Rank of 10), it may be a risky investment, because debt in times of crises can make things worse. The good value, better than 71% of comparable companies, may indicate the company's future is challenging. If you believe that low growth is temporary or just due to a specific current event, you may conclude that the good value of the stock provides an attractive investment opportunity. Obermatt Premium subscribers can further check the stock’s Sentiment Ranks, which also flow into the Obermatt 360° View for investors. ...read more


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Country United Kingdom
Industry Tobacco
Index FTSE All Shares, FTSE 100, FTSE 350, Dividends Europe, SDG 12, SDG 13, SDG 3, SDG 6, SDG 8
Size class XX-Large

This stock has achievements: Top 10 Stock.

14-Mar-2024. Stock data may be delayed. Log in or sign up to get the most recent research.




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Research History: Imperial Brands

RESEARCH HISTORY 2021 2022 2023 2024
VALUE
VALUE
GROWTH
GROWTH
SAFETY
SAFETY
SENTIMENT
SENTIMENT
360° VIEW
360° VIEW

Most recent update of the stock research: 14-Mar-2024. Financial reporting date used for calculating ranks: 30-Sep-2023. Stock research history is based on the Obermatt Method. The higher the rank, the better Imperial Brands is in the corresponding investment strategy.
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Combined financial peformance in Detail

ANALYSIS: With an Obermatt Combined Rank of 13 (worse than 87% compared with investment alternatives), Imperial Brands (Tobacco, United Kingdom) shares have lower financial characteristics compared with similar stocks. Shares of Imperial Brands are a good value (attractively priced) with a consolidated Value Rank of 71 (better than 71% of alternatives) but show below-average growth (Growth Rank of 10), and are riskily financed (Safety Rank of 10), which means above-average debt burdens. ...read more

RECOMMENDATION: A Combined Rank of 13, is a sell recommendation based on Imperial Brands's financial characteristics. As the company Imperial Brands's key financial metrics exhibit good value (Obermatt Value Rank of 71) but low growth (Obermatt Growth Rank of 10) and risky financing practices (Obermatt Safety Rank of 10), it may be a risky investment, because debt in times of crises can make things worse. The good value, better than 71% of comparable companies, may indicate the company's future is challenging. If you believe that low growth is temporary or just due to a specific current event, you may conclude that the good value of the stock provides an attractive investment opportunity. Obermatt Premium subscribers can further check the stock’s Sentiment Ranks, which also flow into the Obermatt 360° View for investors. ...read more

RESEARCH HISTORY 2021 2022 2023 2024
VALUE
VALUE
GROWTH
GROWTH
SAFETY
SAFETY
COMBINED
COMBINED

Last update of combined financial performance: 14-Mar-2024. Stock analysis on combined financial performance: The higher the rank of Imperial Brands the better the performance.


Value Metrics in Detail

ANALYSIS: With an Obermatt Value Rank of 71 (better than 71% compared with alternatives), Imperial Brands shares are more attractively priced than the majority of comparable stocks. The Value Rank is based on consolidating four value indicators, with half of the indicators below and half above average for Imperial Brands. Price-to-Profit (also referred to as price-earnings, P/E) is 95 which means that the stock price compared with what market professionals expect for future profits is lower than for 95% of comparable companies, indicating a good value concerning Imperial Brands's profit levels. The same is valid for Price-to-Book Capital (also referred to as market-to-book ratio) with a Price-to-Book Rank of 37, which means that the stock price is lower as regards to invested capital than for 37% of comparable investments. On the other hand, Price-to-Sales is less favorable than 82% of alternatives (only 18% of peers have an even less favorable ratio). The same is valid for dividend yield, which is lower than 2% of comparable companies, making the stock more expensive as regards to the company's expected dividend payouts. ...read more

RECOMMENDATION: The overall picture with a consolidated Value Rank of 71, is a buy recommendation based on Imperial Brands's stock price compared with the company's operational size and dividend yields. This is a puzzling picture, because it means that profits are high while dividends are low. Since the stock price is low compared with invested capital but high in respect to expected revenues, it means that the company has more invested capital than peers for generating the same amount of revenue. Since profits are higher, it could be a "cash cow" situation (using the classic Boston Consulting BCG matrix naming convention) where the company is on a downward trend, still living from the profits of past products. As the company pays low dividends, it may harbor the opinion that a turnaround is possible, and it rather invests the cash than pay it out to shareholders, thus sealing the company's fate early. Any investment optimism should only be a buy trigger once thorough research is completed. We recommend further analyzing the stock with Obermatt’s Value, Safety, and Sentiment Ranks, including the 360° View, before making an investment decision, which is especially important in this case, as the financial indicators are inconclusive. ...read more


VALUE METRICS 2021 2022 2023 2024
PRICE VS. REVENUES (P/S)
PRICE VS. REVENUES (P/S)
PRICE VS. PROFITS (P/E)
PRICE VS. PROFITS (P/E)
PRICE VS. CAPITAL (Market-to-Book)
PRICE VS. CAPITAL (Market-to-Book)
DIVIDEND YIELD
DIVIDEND YIELD
CONSOLIDATED RANK: VALUE
CONSOLIDATED RANK: VALUE

Last update of Value Rank: 14-Mar-2024. Stock analysis on value ratios: The higher the rank, the lower the value ratio of Imperial Brands; except for dividend yield where the rank is higher, the higher the yield.


Growth Metrics in Detail

ANALYSIS: With an Obermatt Growth Rank of 10 (better than 10% compared with alternatives), Imperial Brands shows one of the most restricted growth dynamics in its industry. There is little momentum in this company. The Growth Rank is based on consolidating four value indicators, with all four metrics below average for Imperial Brands. Sales Growth has a rank of 14, which means that currently professionals expect the company to grow less than 86% of its competitors. The same is valid for Profit Growth, with a rank of 32, and Capital Growth with 42. In addition, Stock Returns have a below market rank of 45, which means that the stock returns have recently been below 55% of alternative investments. ...read more

RECOMMENDATION: The overall picture with a consolidated Growth Rank of 10, is a sell recommendation for growth and momentum investors. These are all bad growth momentum indicators. These are negative signals for investors interested in growth companies. Value is likely good for this company, as investors may have left this stock in the cold. If that is the case, investors should look at the company's outlook, especially Sentiment performance, because it may be a turnaround situation that could entail above-average stock returns in the future. But it remains a risky bet, as no growth signals are in the green zone yet. While momentum is a popular investment factor, the value aspect might be the more important one, in the longer term. We recommend analyzing the stock with Obermatt’s Value, Safety, and Sentiment Ranks to arrive at a 360° View of the stock purchase case, especially since the growth performance is low here. ...read more

GROWTH METRICS 2021 2022 2023 2024
REVENUE GROWTH
REVENUE GROWTH
PROFIT GROWTH
PROFIT GROWTH
CAPITAL GROWTH
CAPITAL GROWTH
STOCK RETURNS
STOCK RETURNS
CONSOLIDATED RANK: GROWTH
CONSOLIDATED RANK: GROWTH

Last update of Growth Rank: 14-Mar-2024. Stock analysis on growth metrics: The higher the rank, the higher the growth and returns of Imperial Brands.


Safety Metrics in Detail

ANALYSIS: With an Obermatt Safety Rank of 10 (better than 10% compared with alternatives), the company Imperial Brands has much riskier financing practices than comparable other companies, which means that their overall debt burden is significantly above the industry average. This doesn't mean that the business of Imperial Brands is also risky, it only means that the company is on the riskier side in respect to bankruptcy in case things turn sour, assuming that public reporting is correct. The Safety Rank is based on consolidating three financing indicators, with just one indicator above average for Imperial Brands. Liquidity is at 60, meaning the company generates more profit to service its debt than 60% of its competitors. This indicates that the company is safer when it comes to debt service. But Refinancing is riskier at a rank of 6, which means that the portion of the debt that is about to be refinanced is above average. It has more debt in the refinancing stage than 94% of its competitors. Leverage is also high at a rank of 11, which means that the company has an above-average debt-to-equity ratio. It has more debt than 89% of its competitors. ...read more

RECOMMENDATION: With a consolidated Safety Rank of 10 (worse than 90% compared with alternatives), Imperial Brands has a financing structure that is significantly riskier than that of its competitors. High Leverage (a low Obermatt Leverage Rank) is good in good times, because it usually indicates that shareholders get higher returns. The good Liquidity performance of the company is an indicator that this is the case. However, if you expect an economic downturn, you may stay clear of this stock because they have an above-average debt level that needs refinancing soon. If the company is sailing with good winds, as may be visible from the Growth and Sentiment performance, the refinancing risk may be lower than the low Refinancing rank suggests. ...read more

SAFETY METRICS 2021 2022 2023 2024
LEVERAGE
LEVERAGE
REFINANCING
REFINANCING
LIQUIDITY
LIQUIDITY
CONSOLIDATED RANK: SAFETY
CONSOLIDATED RANK: SAFETY

Last update of Safety Rank: 14-Mar-2024. Stock analysis on safety metrics: The higher the rank, the lower the leverage of Imperial Brands and the more cash is available to service its debt.


Sentiment Metrics in Detail

SENTIMENT 2021 2022 2023 2024
ANALYST OPINIONS
ANALYST OPINIONS
OPINIONS CHANGE
OPINIONS CHANGE
PRO HOLDINGS
PRO HOLDINGS
MARKET PULSE
MARKET PULSE
CONSOLIDATED RANK: SENTIMENT
CONSOLIDATED RANK: SENTIMENT

Last update of Sentiment Rank: 14-Mar-2024. Stock analysis on sentiment metrics: The higher the rank, the more positive the sentiment for Imperial Brands.
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Stock analysis by the purely fact based Obermatt Method for Imperial Brands from March 14, 2024.

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