Every day, the stock market offers up a price for what it thinks listed companies are worth as buyers and sellers continuously trade money and ownership interests.
Sometimes the market presents buying opportunities as companies trade at a lower value than their intrinsic value and sometimes (perhaps often), the market's value is a fair valuation.
These three shares have been beaten down lately and you might wonder, do they present good value at current prices?
Eclipx Group Ltd (ASX: ECX)
Shares in fleet management company Eclipx have lost over 55% since their peak in November 2017 after the company downgraded its profit forecasts.
The group also downgraded forecasts for its auction business GraysOnline, a business that it acquired for $179 million just over a year ago. This is also the same business that has experienced some executive turnover following the acquisition.
I don't think there will be major improvements in the operating environment (which the company blamed for the profit downgrade) and so I would avoid buying shares in Eclipx until there is some evidence of improvement.
With total debt at almost $2 billion, the company might even be a target for short sellers.
AMP Limited (ASX: AMP)
Shares in AMP have crashed by 50% since February 2015. This has been exacerbated by the revelations of the Royal Commission, which has also badly impacted on the big banks like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ).
Since then, AMP has lost key members of its Board of Directors and the future of the industry remains uncertain. Even at a PE ratio of 10, I think it might be a while before the issues at AMP are fully resolved and new money going into the market might have a better home elsewhere.
Ramsay Health Care Limited Fully Paid Ord. Shrs (ASX: RHC)
Ramsay shares have lost almost 30% over the last year and some market analysts remain bearish on the private healthcare provider.
Whilst there might be some short term pressure on the company with patients opting for public hospitals, I like Ramsay's long term prospects.
I think there will be enough long term demand for its services as the population ages and its geographical diversification is also attractive. This could be one to keep an eye out on.
