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We learn a lot in Blogging, Cryptocurrencies, SEO and Content Marketing in general. In this post, we will be focusing more on Earning Per Share Ratio (EPS) ratio.
Both value and non-value investors have always considered the earnings per share ratio (P/E) as a useful metric for determining the relative attractiveness of a firm’s stock price compared to its current earnings.
It’s no doubt that this financial ratio is the quickest and most effective way to establish if a stock is worth investing in, especially when viewed in terms of a company’s overall growth rate as well as its underlying earning power.
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Table of Contents - What is covered in this post
The P/E Ratio – Understanding what it means
The price-earnings ratio describes the relationship between a firm’s stock price and its earnings per share (EPS). It’s a popular ratio which provides investors with a better sense of a company’s overall value. It shows the market expectations and is actually the price you should pay per unit of current stock earnings.
When valuing the stock of a company, earnings are extremely important since investors will want to know the firm’s current profitability and how likely these profits are going to increase in the future.
In case the company fails to grow and its current earnings remain constant, the earnings per share ratio can be interrupted since the number of years the company will take to fully pay back the amount of money paid for each share will also change. Understand the true real meaning of earnings per share ratio with Timothy Sykes.
How to Use the P/E Ratio
Looking at a stock’s P/E gives little information, it isn’t compared to the firm’s historical earnings per share ratio or the competitor’s P/E from a similar industry. In fact, it’s hard to tell if a stock that has a price-earnings ratio of 10x is a bargain or if a price-earnings ratio of 50x is costly without performing any detailed comparisons.
The best thing about the P/E ratio is its ability to standardize stocks of different prices as well as earning levels.
This ratio is sometimes referred to as an earnings multiple. And it exists in two different types: trailing and forward. Trailing P/E is based on previous EPS (earnings per share) periods, while the forward P/E ratio is obtained when the EPS value is calculated based on future estimates.
P/E= Price per Share/ Stock Earnings Per Share
or
Justified P/E= Market Capitalization/Overall Net Earnings
EPS is calculated by taking the total earnings from the past one year and dividing it by the weighted average outstanding shares. For unusual and one-fit items, earnings can be normalized to avoid any abnormal impacts.
The justified P/E ratio is often utilized for finding the P/E ratio that investors should actually be paying for. And this is calculated based on the company’s growth rate, dividends, as well as their retention policy.
Importance of the EPS Ratio
Every investor wants to invest in financially sound companies that have the ability to provide substantial returns on investment (ROI). And P/E is among the ratios that help them select the right stocks.
With the earnings per share ratio, investors can figure out if they’re paying a fair price or not. Similar firms within the same industry are clustered together for comparison, irrespective of their varying stock prices. It’s a simple and quick way to value a company using its earnings. When a low or high P/E is found, it will be easier finding out the type of stock or company you’re dealing with.
By inverting the P/E ratio, you can readily calculate the earning yields of a particular stock. This will help you to compare the returns you’re actually earning from the company’s investments like Treasury bills, real estate, bonds, and certificates of deposit as well as money markets.
However, you should perform your due diligence, checking out for phenomena such as viewing both the individual stocks available on your portfolio, and checking value traps. Through this lens, you’ll be able to avoid any risky business endeavors that could land you in trouble.
It helps you to understand the stock market and concentrate on the underlying economic reality. Once you’ve the P/E ratio, you can differentiate between a highly priced stock and a great firm that might have fallen out of favor and is being sold for a fraction of what it’s truly worth.
Price per Earning Ratios in Different Industries
Different industries have different P/E ratios that are considered normal. For instance, technology companies might sell an average earnings per share ratio of 20, whilst textile manufacturers might only trade at an average earnings per share ratio of 8. These variations between different sectors and industries are acceptable.
Software companies often sell at higher P/E ratios since they’ve higher growth rates and tend to earn higher returns on equity. Textile mills, on the other hand, are subject to dismissal profit margins as well as low growth prospects and might trade at extremely smaller multiples.
How Determine If an Industry Is Overpriced
One way to determine when an industry is overpriced is to check its earnings per share ratio. If the P/E ratio of all the companies in that industry are much higher than the historical average.
Remember the repercussions of the gross overpricing in the technology sector following the dot-com frenzy of the 1990s? Investors who understood the true meaning of absolute valuation knew it was almost a mathematical impossibility for equities to generate significant returns going forward unless the excess valuation was burned off or market stock prices dropped to bring them back to normalcy.
Benjamin Graham used to average profit per share for the previous 7 years so as to balance out highs plus lows in the economy. This is because if the P/E ratio is measured without it, you would end up with a situation where profits collapse much faster than stock prices making the earnings per share ratio look obscenely high when in the real sense it was low.
Conclusion
The earnings per share ratio is a powerful metric for determining if it’s worth investing in a certain company’s stocks or not. It helps investors find out if they’re paying the right price and if the company will generate substantial returns on investment (ROI).