Stock in Focus: A Quant's View Of Boohoo.Com

Back in June, Small Cap Editor Paul Scott described Boohoo.com as “the share I’m most excited about as a core long term growth stock in my portfolio”. Paul is a very successful investor and a retail expert to boot, so I hesitate to disagree with him. However, it does take two sides to make a market. In this article I’ll take a close look at Boohoo.Com from a more quantitative perspective, working within the Stockopedia framework.Do the numbers support Paul’s view that this is a superior quality business? Is the valuation attractive? Most of all, is Boohoo.Com statistically likely to outperform?Let’s get startedFounded in 2006, Boohoo.Com floated at 50p per share in 2014 on an over-optimistic P/E ratio that  rose to over 100x earnings after the first day’s trading.The stock touched a 52-week high of 55p back in September 2014 before reality intervened in the form of a profit warning.  Boohoo shares then fell to about 22p, from which level they have gradually been recovering.Boohoo.com sells affordable fashion targeting 16-24 year-old customers. To borrow from Paul again, “it’s basically Primark online”.  In...