Tom Gilbert, founder and chairman of the board of Gilbert Enterprises, could not believe his eyes as he read the quote about his firm in The Wall Street Journal. The stock had closed at 35 1/4, down 3 3/4 points for the week. He called his vice president of finance, Jane Arnold, and they agreed to meet on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. for breakfast. When Jane arrived, they reviewed the stocks performance for the last few months. Although the stock opened the year (2016) at 28 per share, it had reached a high of 50 in March, but had steadily slid in value to its current level of 35 1/4 in mid-May. Tom and Jane both thought the stock was undervalued in the marketplace and were seriously considering an announcement that the firm was going to repurchase up to one million of its own shares in the open market beginning on June 1st of 2016. They thought that would send a message to investors that the market had placed the stock at an unrealistically low level. Before taking any action, they decided to consult with their investment banking representative, Albert Roth, senior vice president at the investment banking firm of Baker, Green and Roth. Roth had aided the firm in initially selling its stock to the public (going public) five years ago and was quite familiar with its operations. Although he was surprised to receive their call during an early Saturday morning round of golf at the country club, he promised to get back with them in the next few days with his recommendations on a stock repurchase. The Firms Business Gilbert Enterprises was the third largest firm in the auto parts replacement industry, specializing in brake parts, power transmissions, batteries, cables and other products related to used automobiles. Although most auto industry advertising relatesto flashy new cars, Albert Roth knew that the auto partsreplacement industry was becoming increasingly important. His research indicated that the average age of an automobile life had reached 11.6 years in 2016, up from a mere 6.8 years in the mid-1980s. Why? New vehicle price increases had far surpassed the rise in consumer income. People are now forced to keep their old cars longer whether they want to or not. Furthermore, legislation has mandated more emission inspections and maintenance programs. Consumers are now being forced to spend more money to update older automobiles to meet these standards Valuation Gilbert Enterprises had the most advanced just-in-time (JIT) inventory management system in the industry. For that reason, Albert Roth believed the firm would enjoy supernormal growth beyond industry standards for the next three years. His best estimate was that a 15 percent growth rate during that time period was entirely reasonable. After that time span, a more normal growth rate of 6 percent was expected. Because of the supernormal growth potential, he decided to consult with the CFO to compute the value. Current dividends (Do) were 1.20 per share and he decided to use a discount or required rate of return (Ke) of 10 percent. He discussed this approach with his partners and while they generally agreed, they suggested that he also consider a more traditional approach of comparing the firms price-earnings ratio to other firms in the industry. Price-earnings data along with other information are shown in Figure 1 for Gilbert Enterprises and three other firms in the industry. Figure 1: Comparative Data for Auto Parts Replacement Firms Gilbert Enterprises Reliance Parts Standard Auto Allied Motors Annual growth in EPS (last 5 years) 12% 8% 7% 9% Return on stockholders equity 18.0% 25.3% 14.0% 15.3% Return on total assets 12.1% 8.1% 10.5% 9.8% Debt to total assets 33% 68% 25% 36% Market value $35.25 $70.50 $24.25 $46.75 Book value $16.40 $50.25 $19.50 $50.75 Replacement value $43.50 $68.75 $26.00 $37.50 Dividend yield 3.40% 2.18% 5.26% 3.12% P/E ratio 16.8 24.1 14.2 18.1 Required (i) Using the approach for the valuation of a supernormal growth firm, compute the value of Gilbert Enterprises stock. Does the firm appear to be under or overvalued? (ii) Examine the data in Figure 1 and indicate whether the firms P/E ratio appears to be appropriate in light of other firms in the industry. (iii) Based on the answers to questions 1 and 2, what recommendation would you suggest that Albert Roth