Yahoo Finance Don’t Sell Caesarstone Ltd (NASDAQ:CSTE) Before You Read This
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 Caesarstone Ltd’s (NASDAQ:CSTE) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Caesarstone has a price to earnings ratio of 30.84, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 3.2%.
Check out our latest analysis for Caesarstone
How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?
The formula for price to earnings is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Caesarstone:
P/E of 30.84 = $14.92 ÷ $0.48 (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2018.)
Is A High P/E Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each $1 of company earnings. 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
If earnings fall then in the future the ‘E’ will be lower. Therefore, even if you pay a low multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become higher in the future. So while a stock may look cheap based on past earnings, it could be expensive based on future earnings.
Caesarstone’s earnings per share fell by 63% in the last twelve months. And over the longer term (5 years) earnings per share have decreased 16% annually. This growth rate might warrant a below average P/E ratio.
How Does Caesarstone’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (14.9) for companies in the building industry is lower than Caesarstone’s P/E.
That means that the market expects Caesarstone will outperform other companies in its industry. Shareholders are clearly optimistic, but the future is always uncertain. So investors should always consider the P/E ratio alongside other factors, such as whether company directors have been buying shares.
A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank
The ‘Price’ in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. 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 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.
Caesarstone’s Balance Sheet
Since Caesarstone holds net cash of US$72m, it can spend on growth, justifying a higher P/E ratio than otherwise.
The Bottom Line On Caesarstone’s P/E Ratio
Caesarstone has a P/E of 30.8. That’s higher than the average in the US market, which is 17.5. The recent drop in earnings per share might keep value investors away, but the relatively strong balance sheet will allow the company time to invest in growth. Clearly, the high P/E indicates shareholders think it will!
Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is better than it expects, you can make money by buying and holding for the long term. So this free visual report on analyst forecasts could hold they key to an excellent investment decision.
You might be able to find a better buy than Caesarstone. 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).
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 editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
