PLS and Telstra Group Ltd: 2 ASX shares to dig into

The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) share price is down 29.4% since the start of 2024. It's probably worth asking, 'is the PLS share price cheap?'

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The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) share price is down 29.4% since the start of 2024. The Telstra Group Ltd (ASX:TLS) share price is tracking 12.4% off its 52-week lows.

PLS share price in focus

Pilbara Minerals is a leading ASX-listed lithium company, owning 100% of the world’s largest, independent hard-rock lithium operation, Pilgangoora, which it acquired in 2014.

Pilbara’s primary business is to find, dig up, and sell spodumene concentrate (a fancy word for rocks with lithium in them). It sells its concentrate through “offtake” agreements and spot sales on the Battery Material Exchange (BMX) platform. A good example of an offtake partner is Great Wall (the Chinese car company) or POSCO, a South Korean steelmaker.

Demand for lithium has skyrocketed in recent years on the back of developments in electric vehicles and renewable energy technology. Bullish investors would call Pilbara a ‘pure play’ investment in demand for green tech. However, as a commodities producer, its revenue is still at the mercy of (sometimes dramatic) fluctuations in the price of spodumene in the global market.

TLS shares

Telstra was founded in 1975 and is Australia’s largest telecommunications company by market share providing over 22.5 million retail mobile accounts in 2023.

Telstra is responsible for building and operating telecommunication networks and has a range of businesses including fixed broadband, mobile, data and IP, and digital media. The company also has a presence in over 20 countries outside of Australia where it provides services to governments and businesses.

PLS share price valuation

As a growth company, one way to put a rough guesstimate on the PLS share price could be to compare its price-to-sales multiple over time. Currently, Pilbara Minerals Ltd shares have a price-sales ratio of 6.74x, compared to its 5-year average of 20.35x, meaning its shares are trading below their historical average. This could mean that the share price has fallen, or sales have increased, or both. In the case of PLS, revenue has been growing over the last 3 years. Please keep in mind that context is important – and this is just one valuation technique. Investment decisions can’t just be based on one metric.

Since it is a more of a ‘blue chip’ company, we could look at the dividend yield of TLS to determine its value. TLS is offering a trailing dividend yield of around 4.72%, which compares to its 5-year average of 3.62%.The Rask websites offer free online investing courses, created by analysts explaining things like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and Dividend Discount Models (DDM). They even include free valuation spreadsheets. Both of these models would be a better way to value the TLS share price.”)

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