Yahoo Finance Should You Be Tempted To Buy US Energy Corp (USEG) At Its Current Price?
US Energy Corp (NASDAQ:USEG) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 17.9x, which is lower than the industry average of 32.1x. While this makes USEG appear like a great stock to buy, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. Today, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it. Check out our latest analysis for U.S. Energy
Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio
P/E is a popular ratio used for relative valuation. It compares a stock’s price per share to the stock’s earnings per share. A more intuitive way of understanding the P/E ratio is to think of it as how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.
Formula
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
P/E Calculation for USEG
Price per share = 0.84
Earnings per share = 0.047
∴ Price-Earnings Ratio = 0.84 ÷ 0.047 = 17.9x
The P/E ratio itself doesn’t tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful when you compare it with other similar companies. Ultimately, our goal is to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar attributes to USEG, such as company lifetime and products sold. A common peer group is companies that exist in the same industry, which is what I use below. Since similar companies should technically have similar P/E ratios, we can very quickly come to some conclusions about the stock if the ratios differ.
Since USEG's P/E of 17.9x is lower than its industry peers (32.1x), it means that investors are paying less than they should for each dollar of USEG's earnings. As such, our analysis shows that USEG represents an under-priced stock.
Assumptions to watch out for
While our conclusion might prompt you to buy USEG immediately, there are two important assumptions you should be aware of. The first is that our “similar companies” are actually similar to USEG. If the companies aren’t similar, the difference in P/E might be a result of other factors. For example, if you accidentally compared higher growth firms with USEG, then USEG’s P/E would naturally be lower since investors would reward its peers’ higher growth with a higher price. Alternatively, if you inadvertently compared less risky firms with USEG, USEG’s P/E would again be lower since investors would reward its peers’ lower risk with a higher price as well. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing USEG to are fairly valued by the market. If this assumption does not hold true, USEG’s lower P/E ratio may be because firms in our peer group are being overvalued by the market.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? You may have already conducted fundamental analysis on the stock as a shareholder, so its current undervaluation could signal a good buying opportunity to increase your exposure to USEG. Now that you understand the ins and outs of the PE metric, you should know to bear in mind its limitations before you make an investment decision.
Are you a potential investor? If you are considering investing in USEG, looking at the PE ratio on its own is not enough to make a well-informed decision. You will benefit from looking at additional analysis and considering its intrinsic valuation along with other relative valuation metrics like PEG and EV/Sales.
PE is one aspect of your portfolio construction to consider when holding or entering into a stock. But it is certainly not the only factor. Take a look at our most recent infographic report on U.S. Energy for a more in-depth analysis of the stock to help you make a well-informed investment decision. Since we know a limitation of PE is it doesn't properly account for growth, you can use our free platform to see my list of stocks with a high growth potential and see if their PE is still reasonable.
To help readers see pass 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.
