Yahoo Finance Does Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ:EFSC) Have A Good P/E Ratio?
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This article is for investors who would like to improve their understanding of price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Enterprise Financial Services Corp's (NASDAQ:EFSC) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. What is Enterprise Financial Services's P/E ratio? Well, based on the last twelve months it is 11.59. That means that at current prices, buyers pay $11.59 for every $1 in trailing yearly profits.
View our latest analysis for Enterprise Financial Services
How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?
The formula for price to earnings is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Enterprise Financial Services:
P/E of 11.59 = $41.99 ÷ $3.62 (Based on the year to March 2019.)
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 is not a good or a bad thing per se, but a high P/E does imply buyers are optimistic about the future.
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. That's because companies that grow earnings per share quickly will rapidly increase the 'E' in the equation. And in that case, the P/E ratio itself will drop rather quickly. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up.
Notably, Enterprise Financial Services grew EPS by a whopping 49% in the last year. And its annual EPS growth rate over 5 years is 19%. I'd therefore be a little surprised if its P/E ratio was not relatively high.
Does Enterprise Financial Services Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?
The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. If you look at the image below, you can see Enterprise Financial Services has a lower P/E than the average (13) in the banks industry classification.
Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Enterprise Financial Services shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. It is arguably worth checking if insiders are buying shares, because that might imply they believe the stock is undervalued.
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. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. 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 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.
Enterprise Financial Services's Balance Sheet
Enterprise Financial Services's net debt equates to 29% of its market capitalization. While that's enough to warrant consideration, it doesn't really concern us.
The Verdict On Enterprise Financial Services's P/E Ratio
Enterprise Financial Services has a P/E of 11.6. That's below the average in the US market, which is 18.1. The company hasn't stretched its balance sheet, and earnings growth was good last year. If it continues to grow, then the current low P/E may prove to be unjustified. Because analysts are predicting more growth in the future, one might have expected to see a higher P/E ratio. You can taker closer look at the fundamentals, here.
Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, 'In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.' So this free visualization of the analyst consensus on future earnings could help you make the right decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold.
You might be able to find a better buy than Enterprise Financial Services. 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).
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.
