It seems that data breaches are going to become the norm globally, if they have not already, so whenever a company is hit by hackers and the stock price declines as a result, I try to take a look and see if there are investment opportunities. The best example was Target several years ago, when hackers pierced the retailer’s in-store credit card scanners and stole customer payment data. While the media would have had you believe people were going to abandon the chain for life, after 6-12 months (and many more hacks of other companies), it was business as usual.
Equifax (EFX) might be a different animal given that they are in the business of collecting credit data, but most corporations do not seem to be much of a match for professional hackers. So while it is easy to argue that their security should have been stronger than Target’s, I am not so sure that a year from now Equifax’s business will be materially harmed. It is worth watching, however, since there are other data providers corporate clients can use.
What is interesting to me is that even after large drop (in recent weeks EFX shares have fallen from the low 140’s to today’s $103 level), the stock is not cheap. In fact, it appears it was quite overvalued leading up to the hack disclosure, making a 30% decline less enticing for value investors.
I went back and looked at Equifax’s historical valuations and found that the stock has ended the calendar year trading between 14x and 23x trailing free cash flow since 2010. I would say that 20x is a fair price for the company.  But pre-hack the shares had surged more than 20% year-to-date and fetched roughly 27x projected 2017 free cash flow. So at today’s prices they still are trading at the high end of recent historical trends at ~20x.
For investors who think this hack will come and go without permanently damaging the Equifax brand, the current price is a discount from recent levels but hardly a bargain. If you are like me and would want to see how financial results come in over the next 6-12 months (to see if customers are bailing), you would want a far better price if you were going to start building a long position now. And even when you felt comfortable with the long-term prospects of the business, the current price would hardly scream “buy†at you.
