Yahoo Finance daVictus plc (LON:DVT) Shares Fly 100% But Investors Aren't Buying For Growth
The daVictus plc (LON:DVT) share price has done very well over the last month, posting an excellent gain of 100%. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 100%.
In spite of the firm bounce in price, daVictus' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 2.3x might still make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in the United Kingdom, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 15x and even P/E's above 29x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.
With earnings growth that's exceedingly strong of late, daVictus has been doing very well. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually underperform the broader market in the near future. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
Check out our latest analysis for daVictus
Although there are no analyst estimates available for daVictus, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?
There's an inherent assumption that a company should far underperform the market for P/E ratios like daVictus' to be considered reasonable.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 389% last year. Although, its longer-term performance hasn't been as strong with three-year EPS growth being relatively non-existent overall. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.
Weighing that recent medium-term earnings trajectory against the broader market's one-year forecast for expansion of 9.6% shows it's noticeably less attractive on an annualised basis.
With this information, we can see why daVictus is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.
The Key Takeaway
daVictus' recent share price jump still sees its P/E sitting firmly flat on the ground. While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.
We've established that daVictus maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. If recent medium-term earnings trends continue, it's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.
We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 3 warning signs for daVictus that you need to be mindful of.
Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than daVictus. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.
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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.
