There are some great ASX shares available to investors that I think look undervalued. These companies appear very cheap for how much they could grow in the coming years.
We can use at least two different methods to decide if a business is cheap. First, we can look at the size of the price/earnings (P/E) ratio — the multiple of earnings that the business is trading at. The other option is to find a company trading at a significantly lower price than its stated underlying value on the balance sheet.
Here's one example of each type of undervalued business that I'm looking to buy in 2025.
GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG)
This funds management business offers a variety of investment funds focused on US shares, global shares, international shares and emerging market shares. It also offers dividend share strategies.
The GQG share price has dropped 37% over the past six months. It is significantly cheaper after uncertainty relating to its Adani investments.
Now is the time for the fund manager to prove its capabilities and show its clients it can continue its long-term investment track record of outperformance of the respective funds' benchmarks. I believe it can, which should encourage client net flows to recover.
The organic long-term growth of the share market could help increase GQG's funds under management (FUM), even if the ASX share's net flows aren't as positive in the short term.
I think the market is being overly negative about the ASX share. According to the forecast on Commsec, the GQG share price is valued at 8x FY25's estimated earnings, with a forward dividend yield of 11.5%. That looks very cheap to me.
Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX: CQR)
This real estate investment trust (REIT) describes itself as a leading owner of property for convenience retailers. It has more than 40 shopping centre retail assets around the country.
Major tenants — including Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL), BP, Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD), Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV) and Aldi — accounted for around 55% of portfolio income.
I like the portfolio statistics, which display strength. At June 2024 the REIT had an occupancy rate of 98.8% and a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 7.2 years.
Despite high interest rates, it expects to deliver like-for-like net property income growth in FY25. And it expects to pay a distribution per unit of 24.7 cents, which translates into a distribution yield of 7.8%.
Its net tangible assets (NTA) was $4.51 at 30 June 2024, so the current Charter Hall Retail REIT share price is trading at an approximate 30% discount to its underlying value. A possible RBA interest rate cut this year could increase customer visitation at the shopping centres and also help the ASX shares' valuation.
