• If you are wondering whether Bentley Systems at around US$32.83 is starting to look interesting or still feels expensive, the next sections will help you frame that question clearly.
• Over the past week the share price is down 6.8%, with a 5.6% decline over the past month, and the stock is currently showing a 13.9% decline year to date and a 23.4% decline over the past year.
• These moves are unfolding against a backdrop where Bentley Systems continues to feature in ongoing coverage as an established player in infrastructure engineering software, which keeps it on the radar of both institutional and retail investors. Recent attention has focused on how its business model and end markets fit into longer term digital infrastructure spending. This helps set expectations around what investors are willing to pay for the shares.
• On Simply Wall St’s 6 point valuation checklist, Bentley Systems scores 3 out of 6. The rest of this article will break down how approaches like discounted cash flow, multiples, and other tools line up, and then finish with a broader way of thinking about what that valuation really means for you.

Approach 1: Bentley Systems Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Analysis

A Discounted Cash Flow model takes estimates of the cash a business could generate in the future and discounts those amounts back to today, to arrive at an estimate of what the whole company might be worth now.

For Bentley Systems, the model uses a 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity approach based on cash flows in $. The latest twelve month free cash flow is around $517.4 million. Analyst inputs and extrapolations suggest free cash flow of about $536.8 million in 2026 and $951.6 million in 2035, with Simply Wall St extending analyst estimates beyond year 5 to fill out the 10 year path.

Bringing all those projected cash flows back to today, the DCF model arrives at an estimated intrinsic value of about $40.31 per share. Against a current share price around $32.83, this implies the shares trade at roughly an 18.6% discount to that DCF value, which points to the stock looking undervalued on this specific cash flow view.

Result: UNDERVALUED

Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Bentley Systems is undervalued by 18.6%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 53 more high quality undervalued stocks.

Approach 2: Bentley Systems Price vs Earnings

For a profitable business like Bentley Systems, the P/E ratio is a straightforward way to link what you pay per share to the company’s current earnings. It lets you compare what the market is willing to pay for each dollar of earnings across different companies.

What counts as a “normal” P/E depends on how fast earnings are expected to grow and how risky those earnings are. Higher expected growth or lower perceived risk can justify a higher P/E, while lower growth or higher risk usually point to a lower multiple.

Bentley Systems currently trades on a P/E of 37.11x. That sits above the broader Software industry average of 30.50x, but below the peer group average of 46.95x. Simply Wall St’s “Fair Ratio” for Bentley Systems is 26.70x. This proprietary metric aims to estimate an appropriate P/E for the company by considering factors such as its earnings growth profile, profit margins, risk characteristics, industry and market cap, rather than relying only on simple peer or industry comparisons.

Comparing the Fair Ratio of 26.70x to the actual P/E of 37.11x suggests the shares are pricing in more than what the model considers fair. On this metric the stock screens as overvalued.

Result: OVERVALUED

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Upgrade Your Decision Making: Choose your Bentley Systems Narrative

Earlier the article mentioned that there is an even better way to think about valuation. This is where Narratives come in as a simple way for you to connect your view of Bentley Systems with the numbers behind it.

A Narrative is your story about the company, written in financial terms like expected revenue, earnings and margins, which then flows through to an assumed fair value per share.

On Simply Wall St, Narratives sit in the Community page and are designed so that anyone can pick or adjust a storyline, link it to a forecast, and instantly see how that compares with the current share price.

This makes timing decisions more concrete, because you are comparing your Fair Value with the live market Price instead of relying only on a single DCF or P/E snapshot.

These Narratives update automatically when new earnings, guidance or news items are added, so your fair value view can move as fresh information comes through.

For Bentley Systems, one Narrative might lean toward the higher US$65.0 fair value, with revenue and margins closer to the more optimistic analyst set. Another might align with the lower US$42.0 fair value, reflecting more cautious assumptions about growth and future P/E. Both are visible side by side for you to compare.

Do you think there's more to the story for Bentley Systems? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying!

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.