This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We’ll look at Thejo Engineering Limited’s (NSE:THEJO) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company’s share price. Thejo Engineering has a price to earnings ratio of 18.3, based on the last twelve months. That is equivalent to an earnings yield of about 5.5%.
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How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Thejo Engineering:
P/E of 18.3 = ₹589 ÷ ₹32.19 (Based on the year to March 2018.)
Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to pay a higher price for each ₹1 the company has earned over the last year. That isn’t a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business’s prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E.
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. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up.
Notably, Thejo Engineering grew EPS by a whopping 92% in the last year. And it has bolstered its earnings per share by 11% per year over the last five years. So we’d generally expect it to have a relatively high P/E ratio.
How Does Thejo Engineering’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 (19.8) for companies in the machinery industry is roughly the same as Thejo Engineering’s P/E.
NSEI:THEJO PE PEG Gauge January 12th 19
Thejo Engineering’s P/E tells us that market participants think its prospects are roughly in line with its industry. The company could surprise by performing better than average, in the future. Checking factors such as the tenure of the board and management could help you form your own view on if that will happen.
Don’t Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits
Don’t forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. That means it doesn’t take debt or cash into account. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future), by taking on debt (or spending its remaining cash).
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.
How Does Thejo Engineering’s Debt Impact Its P/E Ratio?
Net debt totals 12% of Thejo Engineering’s market cap. It would probably deserve a higher P/E ratio if it was net cash, since it would have more options for growth.
The Bottom Line On Thejo Engineering’s P/E Ratio
Thejo Engineering’s P/E is 18.3 which is about average (17) in the IN market. Given it has reasonable debt levels, and grew earnings strongly last year, the P/E indicates the market has doubts this growth can be sustained.
Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If the reality for a company is better than it expects, you can make money by buying and holding for the long term. Although we don’t have analyst forecasts, you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.
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 [email protected].