Yahoo Finance What Does Rogers Communications Inc’s (TSE:RCI.B) P/E Ratio Tell You?
The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We’ll look at Rogers Communications Inc’s (TSE:RCI.B) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company’s share price. Based on the last twelve months, Rogers Communications’s P/E ratio is 18.99. In other words, at today’s prices, investors are paying CA$18.99 for every CA$1 in prior year profit.
Check out our latest analysis for Rogers Communications
How Do You Calculate Rogers Communications’s P/E Ratio?
The formula for price to earnings is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Rogers Communications:
P/E of 18.99 = CA$70.87 ÷ CA$3.73 (Based on the year to September 2018.)
Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each CA$1 of company earnings. All else being equal, it’s better to pay a low price — but as Warren Buffett said, ‘It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.’
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
Earnings growth rates have a big influence on P/E ratios. Earnings growth means that in the future the ‘E’ will be higher. That means unless the share price increases, the P/E will reduce in a few years. So while a stock may look expensive based on past earnings, it could be cheap based on future earnings.
Notably, Rogers Communications grew EPS by a whopping 44% in the last year. And its annual EPS growth rate over 3 years is 15%. I’d therefore be a little surprised if its P/E ratio was not relatively high.
How Does Rogers Communications’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (11.8) for companies in the wireless telecom industry is lower than Rogers Communications’s P/E.
Its relatively high P/E ratio indicates that Rogers Communications shareholders think it will perform better than other companies in its industry classification. Shareholders are clearly optimistic, but the future is always uncertain. So further research is always essential. I often monitor director buying and selling.
A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank
Don’t forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.
Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.
Is Debt Impacting Rogers Communications’s P/E?
Rogers Communications has net debt worth 43% of its market capitalization. If you want to compare its P/E ratio to other companies, you should absolutely keep in mind it has significant borrowings.
The Bottom Line On Rogers Communications’s P/E Ratio
Rogers Communications trades on a P/E ratio of 19, which is above the CA market average of 13.9. The company is not overly constrained by its modest debt levels, and it is growing earnings per share. So it is not surprising the market is probably extrapolating recent growth well into the future, reflected in the relatively high P/E ratio.
Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is better than it expects, you can make money by buying and holding for the long term. So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock.
You might be able to find a better buy than Rogers Communications. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings).
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
