Lex专栏：欧莱雅股票美不美？

“The universalisation of beauty is how Jean-Paul Agon, L’Oréal chief executive, describes his company’s mission. The market reaction to its first-half results on Wednesday was anything but beautiful. The shares fell 4 per cent as investors fretted about margin growth.

“普及美丽，这是欧莱雅(L’Oréal)首席执行官让-保罗·安巩(Jean-Paul Agon)对其公司使命的描述。该公司周三发布的上半年业绩报告却不那么美。随着投资者对利润率增长感到担忧，其股价下跌了4%。

That might be a sign of things to come – with consumers becoming more choosy, L’Oréal and its peers have to spend more on advertising and promotion to keep sales growing. At least L’Oréal has some leeway – at 17 per cent, its operating margins are already in advance of peers such as Estée Lauder and Beiersdorf (both on 13 per cent).

这可能是一系列事情的预兆——随着消费者变得更加挑剔，欧莱雅和业内同行不得不在广告和促销方面增加开支以保持销售增长。欧莱雅公司至少还有一些空间——其营业利润率为17%，已经超过同行企业如雅诗兰黛(Estée Lauder)和拜尔斯道夫(Beiersdorf)，两者均为13%。

But, like overgenerous application of L’Oréal’s make-up, excessive attention to quarterly changes in margins can obscure the bigger picture. For L’Oréal there are two wider questions. The first is what it will do with its balance sheet. Net debt was €4.5bn four years ago, but the company now has net cash and a newly announced €500m share buyback programme will not stretch its finances. So acquisitions are on the agenda and, although Mr Agon is coy about targets, he says he wants to buy products that will create organic growth. With market growth of only 4 per cent expected this year, that looks smart.

然而，就像过度使用欧莱雅化妆品一样，过分关注季度利润率的变化可能会错过大局。对欧莱雅来说有两个更大的问题。首先是它将拿资产负债表怎么办。四年前欧莱雅的净债务为45亿欧元，但该公司目前拥有净现金，且最新公布的5亿欧元股票回购计划也不会造成其财务紧张。因此收购计划已提上议程，而且，虽然安巩对收购对象讳莫如深，但他表示要购买那些能够带来有机增长的产品。鉴于今年仅达4%的市场增长预期，该想法看上去很明智。

The other big question surrounds the group’s two largest shareholders. The Bettencourt family and Nestlé each owns 30 per cent, and a mutual lock-up agreement ends in 2014. The Bettencourts are unlikely to sell, but Nestlé’s intentions are far from clear and that will cast a cloud over the shares for the next couple of years.

另一个大问题围绕该集团两个最大的股东。贝当古(Bettencourt)家族和雀巢公司(Nestlé)各自拥有其30%股份，以及截至2014年的共同禁售协议。贝当古不大可能出售股份，但雀巢的意图却很不明朗，那让欧莱雅未来两年的股价蒙上了阴影。

Despite that uncertainty, L’Oréal shares have had a good run. Before Wednesday’s fall, they had risen 23 per cent in the year to date and had almost closed the valuation discount to Estée Lauder. They now trade on 20 times forecast earnings, which is plenty for a group facing tricky markets and a clunky investor base.

尽管有不确定因素，欧莱雅的股票近来表现不俗。在周三股价下跌以前，其股价今年迄今上涨了23%，几乎消除了相对于雅诗兰黛的估值折扣。目前其预期市盈率为20倍，这对于一家正面临着棘手市场和笨拙的投资者基础的企业来说，已经不错了。

Lex专栏是由FT评论员联合撰写的短评，对全球经济与商业进行精辟分析