One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$73.22 our estimate vs market $28.08
Wall Street consensus: $34.90 (-52.3% lower than our fair-value estimate)
62% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Publicis Groupe S.A.
PUBGY · OQX · Communication Services · Advertising Agencies
Current price
$28.08
52-week range
$19.72 - $30.57
Market cap
$28.05B
Balance sheet
Watch
12.87x Strong cushion
Net debt $3.85B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 8.5% last year.
- Reward Returns 16.2% on equity, ahead of 60% of its peers.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.5%).
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 14.5% to 14.1% over 3 years.
What this company does
Publicis Groupe S.A.
Publicis Groupe is one of the world's largest advertising and marketing companies, helping other businesses create ads and manage their online brands. The company earns most of its revenue (the total money brought in from sales) by charging fees to clients for creative services and for providing data that helps them understand their customers. This is important because most businesses consistently need to advertise to attract customers, which can provide a steady source of income for Publicis.
How the company got here
Publicis Groupe started in 1926 as a small advertising agency in Paris, founded by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet. It grew significantly after World War II, becoming one of the largest advertising companies in the world. A major turning point was its global expansion through the acquisition (buying other companies) of famous advertising agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett. More recently, the company has focused on growing its digital and data capabilities, notably by purchasing companies like Sapient and Epsilon to help clients with their digital business transformation.
What it actually does
Publicis Groupe is a large communications company that helps other businesses market their products and services to customers. Think of them as the masterminds behind many of the ads you see on TV, online, and in stores for major brands like Toyota, Samsung, and L'Oréal. They do everything from creating the ads themselves to planning where those ads should appear to get the most attention. The company also helps businesses transform for the digital world, for example by building better websites and using customer data to create more personalized marketing.
Publicis Communications
This is the creative heart of the company, where the big ideas for advertising campaigns are born. It includes several well-known advertising agencies like Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi. Businesses pay this segment to come up with clever and memorable ways to present their brands to the public. This part of the company is a foundational piece of Publicis Groupe's business, responsible for creating the advertisements and public relations campaigns for its clients.
Publicis Media
Once an ad is created, this division figures out the best way to get it in front of people. It includes agencies like Zenith and Starcom that specialize in media planning and buying (deciding where to place ads, like on TV, social media, or websites, and then purchasing that ad space). Clients pay this segment to ensure their advertising budget is spent effectively to reach the right audience. This is a huge part of the business, as placing ads is just as important as creating them.
Publicis Sapient
This segment is all about helping businesses adapt to the digital world. Instead of just creating ads, Publicis Sapient helps companies fundamentally change how they operate online, from building e-commerce websites to developing new digital products and services. Companies pay this division for its technology and consulting expertise to improve their customers' digital experiences. This is a key growth area for Publicis, moving them beyond traditional advertising.
Publicis Health
This is a specialized part of the company focused entirely on the healthcare industry. It creates advertising and provides communication services for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and other health-related clients. For example, they might develop a campaign to educate doctors about a new medicine or create a website to help patients manage a chronic condition. This is a significant and specialized business for Publicis, serving a large and growing industry.
What management is betting on now
The company's leadership is heavily focused on what they call the "Power of One" strategy, which aims to provide clients with seamless access to all of Publicis' different services through a single point of contact. A major part of this strategy is strengthening their data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to better understand consumers and personalize advertising. They are investing heavily in technology and data companies, like Epsilon, rather than just buying more traditional advertising agencies. This shows they are betting that the future of advertising is in data-driven, personalized marketing and digital business transformation.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $73.22 vs current price $28.08
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $34.90 (-52.3% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $73.22 a share — about 160.7% above today's price of $28.08, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Watch
Net debt $3.9B. Interest coverage 12.9x.
Net debt
$3.85B
Interest coverage
12.87x
Publicis Groupe S.A.'s profit covers its interest bill about 12.9 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Watch
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
PUBGY
BASELINE
Publicis Groupe S.A.
Total debt $6.32B Interest coverage 12.87x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $11.41B Interest coverage 1.69x -87% vs PUBGY Carries about 7.6x less debt cushion than PUBGY.
Total debt $9.71B Interest coverage 1.09x -92% vs PUBGY Carries about 11.9x less debt cushion than PUBGY.
Total debt $1.71B Interest coverage 1.65x -87% vs PUBGY Carries about 7.8x less debt cushion than PUBGY.
Total debt $8.39B Interest coverage 47.43x +269% vs PUBGY Carries about 3.7x more debt cushion than PUBGY.
What you should know
The case for and against PUBGY
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 8.5% last year.
-
Returns 16.2% on equity, ahead of 60% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
Risks
-
Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.5%).
-
Operating margin compressed from 14.5% to 14.1% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
15.02x
Forward P/E
11.31x
P/B
2.30x
P/S
1.59x
EV/EBITDA
10.71x
PEG ratio
1.68x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
46.7%
Operating margin
14.1%
Net margin
9.2%
ROE
16.2%
ROA
4.3%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.52x
Current ratio
0.94x
Quick ratio
0.90x
Total debt
$6.32B
Total cash
$2.47B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$20.46B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
7.0%
EPS TTM
1.87
EPS 5Y CAGR
10.6%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$3.41B
Free CF TTM
$3.12B
FCF margin
15.3%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
3.8%
Payout ratio
58.4%
Last ex-div date
2026-06-30