Yahoo Finance Read This Before You Buy PFB Corporation (TSE:PFB) Because Of Its P/E Ratio
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The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use PFB Corporation's (TSE:PFB) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. What is PFB's P/E ratio? Well, based on the last twelve months it is 12.89. In other words, at today's prices, investors are paying CA$12.89 for every CA$1 in prior year profit.
See our latest analysis for PFB
How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for PFB:
P/E of 12.89 = CA$10.98 ÷ CA$0.85 (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.)
Is A High P/E Ratio Good?
The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing 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
Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. Earnings growth means that in the future the 'E' will be higher. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers.
In the last year, PFB grew EPS like Taylor Swift grew her fan base back in 2010; the 132% gain was both fast and well deserved. Having said that, the average EPS growth over the last three years wasn't so good, coming in at 4.5%.
Does PFB Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?
One good way to get a quick read on what market participants expect of a company is to look at its P/E ratio. If you look at the image below, you can see PFB has a lower P/E than the average (17.9) in the building industry classification.
PFB's P/E tells us that market participants think it will not fare as well as its peers in the same industry. Since the market seems unimpressed with PFB, it's quite possible it could surprise on the upside. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitor director buying and selling.
Don't Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits
One drawback of using a P/E ratio is that it considers market capitalization, but not the balance sheet. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. The exact same company would hypothetically deserve a higher P/E ratio if it had a strong balance sheet, than if it had a weak one with lots of debt, because a cashed up company can spend on growth.
Such expenditure might be good or bad, in the long term, but the point here is that the balance sheet is not reflected by this ratio.
Is Debt Impacting PFB's P/E?
Net debt totals just 9.3% of PFB's market cap. The market might award it a higher P/E ratio if it had net cash, but its unlikely this low level of net borrowing is having a big impact on the P/E multiple.
The Bottom Line On PFB's P/E Ratio
PFB has a P/E of 12.9. That's below the average in the CA market, which is 14.9. The EPS growth last year was strong, and debt levels are quite reasonable. If the company can continue to grow earnings, then the current P/E may be unjustifiably low. Given analysts are expecting further growth, one might have expected a higher P/E ratio. That may be worth further research.
Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is not as bad as the P/E ratio indicates, then the share price should increase as the market realizes this. So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock.
But note: PFB may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20).
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.