High quality investing usually involves thinking about whether the asset is priced attractively compared to its long-term value. There are some ASX shares that are trading at such attractive prices that they seem like a steal to me.
I'm not necessarily talking about finding the businesses with the lowest price/earnings (P/E) ratios – those stocks may be priced that low for a reason.
Instead, I'm simply talking about businesses that could seem valued at a cheaper price than they're worth. Right now, I think the two below investments really tick that valuation box.
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Global X S&P World EX Australia GARP ETF (ASX: GARP)
This exchange-traded fund (ETF) is less than a year old, but I think it's very appealing. I'm calling it an ASX share because we can buy it on the ASX and it gives exposure to shares.
It gives investors exposure to global companies that have "strong earnings growth, solid financial strength, and trading at reasonable valuations", according to Global X, the provider of this ETF.
It looks at a number of factors including sales and earnings growth, the P/E ratio, the level of debt and the return on equity (ROE) of businesses. Combined, the GARP ETF offers a set of powerful characteristics.
There are a total of 250 global companies in this portfolio, all of which rank well on those metrics. The investment strategy has clearly worked well – the index that this strategy tracks has delivered an average return per annum of 19.6% over the prior five years.
Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance, but I think this ASX ETF has a lot of potential to make good returns.
Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)
Rural Funds is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns farmland across a variety of areas including cattle, almonds, macadamias and vineyards.
The ASX share looks like a steal to me because of how cheaply it is trading against its adjusted net asset value (NAV), which is reflection of the underlying value of its properties, the debt and so on.
At 31 December 2024, the business reported that its adjusted NAV was $3.10 per unit. That means, at the current Rural Funds unit price, it's trading at a 43% discount.
In an economic environment where the official RBA cash rate is decreasing, this could help boost Rural Funds' adjusted NAV and help reduce the discount between the unit price and the NAV.
As a bonus, the business is expecting to grow its rental profit in FY25 and pay a distribution yield of 6.6% in FY26.
