The saying 'price is what you pay, value is what you get' always overlooks the fact that if you're not willing to pay the price, you won't be getting much of anything. Here are 3 companies I'd love to own, but not at today's prices:
Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)
This corporate travel business has a strong track record of growing via acquisition and expanding into new geographies. Management has proven to be shareholder-friendly, earnings are growing rapidly, and the company is expecting to both hit its top end of guidance in 2017 and experience a strong start to the 2018 year.
However, Corporate Travel looks to be priced at something like 40x its estimated full year earnings, which is too much for me. I'll be waiting for a significantly lower price before considering a purchase.
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)
CSL has a strong business that develops life-changing treatments for sufferers of various illnesses. Although expensive to develop, these treatments generally have a long lifespan and generate oodles of cash after the development process is complete. Unlike most medical research companies, CSL is now at the stage where it can fund its own advancement, and the company's lengthy pipeline of treatments in development bodes well for future earnings and profits.
Unfortunately, at $125 apiece, CSL shares are looking expensive. I'd prefer to buy it some 30% cheaper.
Westfield Corp Ltd (ASX: WFD)
Westfield Corp is an attractive business with great management. While it is subject to the usual real estate drawbacks of high debt levels, maintenance and capital expenditure spending, and so on, many of the company's flagship malls are just about irreplaceable in terms of their locations in the heart of major cities. With diversification across the US and Europe, Westfield should enjoy strong levels of occupancy and sales for the foreseeable future.
The downside is that rental growth is expected to be modest – mid single digits % per year – and its debt pile is significant. I'll start looking at Westfield closer to $7.
