It certainly has been a disappointing start to 2019 for the Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC) share price.
Since the turn of the year the horticulture company's shares have lost over 29% of their value.
This was driven by a sudden deterioration in trading conditions late last year which meant the company fell well short of its guidance for the six months to December 30.
And while a recent improvement in conditions means that management has reiterated its earnings growth guidance of 30% for calendar year 2019, Costa's shares still trade closer to their lows than their highs.
Is it time to invest?
Whilst I wouldn't class Costa's shares as being dirt cheap, I think they are trading at an attractive level for patient long-term focused investors.
One broker that agrees with this view is Goldman Sachs. According to a note out of the investment bank, its analysts have reiterated their buy rating and $5.75 price target on the company's shares.
This price target implies potential upside of approximately 10% for its shares over the next 12 months. This increases to around 12.5% if you include its dividend.
Goldman reiterated its buy rating as it sees "continued value accretive growth capex projects driving double digit earnings growth over the next three years."
In addition to this, the broker believes the expansion of its international business in Morocco and China is a key driver of long term earnings growth and sees the company's ability to continually invest to diversify production and its product offering as a key competitive advantage.
In calendar year 2019 Goldman expects Costa to grow its earnings by 36% to 24 cents per share, which means that its shares are currently changing hands at 22x forward earnings.
I would agree that this is a fair price to pay for its shares and would rate them as a buy alongside rural property landlord Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF) and supermarket giant Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL).
