Compagnie des Alpes SA (CDA.PA) fair value

ACCE thesis

Compagnie des Alpes runs a portfolio of French ski resorts, including Tignes, Val d'Isère and Les Arcs, alongside the Parc Astérix theme park and Walibi parks, and it also operates the Pierre & Vacances resort-residence business in the Center Parcs context. The moat is physical: lift networks and resort real estate in the Alps are hard to replicate, and a 24.2% operating margin with 87.9% gross margin shows the model converts visitor spending into profit efficiently. Revenue growth of 3.9% is modest, but the business sits on fixed assets that keep throughput high, so incremental visits flow through at high margins. The stock trades at 7.6 times trailing earnings and 7.3 times forward, a discount for a company earning a 10.6% return on equity with no index membership to force passive demand. The obvious question for a deeper look is whether the low multiple reflects weather and tourism-cycle risk that the margins do not yet capture, which is exactly what the balance sheet, season-by-season visitor data and French consumer exposure need to answer.