There's No Escaping Micron Technology, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MU) Muted Earnings

When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 15x, you may consider Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) as a highly attractive investment with its 7x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Micron Technology has been doing relatively well. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

See our latest analysis for Micron Technology

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Keen to find out how analysts think Micron Technology's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far underperform the market for P/E ratios like Micron Technology's to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 50%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 39% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 4.6% per year as estimated by the analysts watching the company. That's not great when the rest of the market is expected to grow by 9.6% per annum.

In light of this, it's understandable that Micron Technology's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. However, shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Key Takeaway

We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

As we suspected, our examination of Micron Technology's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking earnings is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Micron Technology that you should be aware of.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly and trade on P/E's below 20x.

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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.

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