Aspen Pharmacare Has Continued To Grow And Branch Out

It has been many years since I've updated my coverage on South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare (OTCPK:APNHY)(APNJ.J), but the intervening years have seen a lot of familiar themes. Management has continued to use M&A to expand its market reach and has continued to expand beyond South Africa, while organic growth has continued to be underwhelming relatively to perpetually rosy expectations from investors and most sell-side analysts.

Assessing the shares remains a difficult exercise. On one hand, the likely underlying discounted cash flow doesn't seem to support the share price, but that has long been the case and the shares have risen despite that (up more than 20% since my last article for the ADRs and up over 100% at the interim peak price). Aspen continues to offer rare access and potential to high-potential markets like China, Brazil, Indonesia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, but price controls and consumers' ability to pay remains a real concern. I expect that investors will continue to be willing to pay a premium for this emerging market pharma story, and the price isn't so unreasonable relative to EBITDA growth, but I would remain alert to the various macro challenges, as well as the sub-standard liquidity of the ADRs.

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Aspen Pharmacare Has Continued To Grow And Branch Out