Analysts are Bullish on Ashtead Share Price. Should You?

Summary:
• Ashtead share price has made some recovery in the past few months, helped by the strong US dollar. It was trading at 4,280p

Ashtead share price has made some recovery in the past few months, helped by the strong US dollar. It was trading at 4,280p, which is about 30% above the lowest level this year. The stock remains about 35% below the highest level this year, giving it a market cap of over 18 billion pounds. 

Is Ashtead a good buy?

Ashtead is a leading company that operates in the UK, US, and Canada through its Sunbelt Rentals brand. The company has a 8% market share in Canada and the biggest share in the UK. It has the second-biggest market share in the US after United Rentals.

Ashtead’s business model is relatively simple. It acquires equipment and tools and then provides them to companies, individuals, and other organizations. Ashtead’s US business generated over $6.5 billion in revenue while its Canada and UK business made over C$654 million and £717 million. 

Therefore, Ashtead has benefited from this year’s currency movements. As such, the crash of the British pound means that the company’s revenue will be offset by the strong US dollar. This is notable since the company made over $6.9 billion in the last 12 months. In pound terms, that revenue is about 6.7 billion pounds. In the same period in 2021, that same revenue would have been about 5 billion pounds.

Ashtead also boosted its forward guidance. It expects that its revenue will grow by between 15% to 17%, up from 12% to 14% previously.

Analysts are bullish about Ashtead share price. For example, those at Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Canada, JP Morgan, and Liberium Capital have reiterated their bullish outlook on the stock. The average estimate for the stock is 5,237p, which is about 20% above the current level.

Ashtead share price forecast

The daily chart shows that the AHT share price has been in recovery recently. It has managed to move above the 25-day and 50-day volume-weighted moving averages while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved above the neutral level. It has also formed an inverted head and shoulders pattern, which is a bullish sign.

Therefore, the stock will likely have a bullish breakout as buyers target the next key resistance level at 5,000p. This view will be confirmed if it moves above the resistance at 4,737p. A drop below the support at 3,970p will invalidate the bullish view.