Yahoo Finance Should You Be Tempted To Sell Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX:MND) Because Of Its P/E Ratio?
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The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). To keep it practical, we’ll show how Monadelphous Group Limited’s (ASX:MND) P/E ratio could help you assess the value on offer. Based on the last twelve months, Monadelphous Group’s P/E ratio is 21.21. In other words, at today’s prices, investors are paying A$21.21 for every A$1 in prior year profit.
Check out our latest analysis for Monadelphous Group
How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Monadelphous Group:
P/E of 21.21 = A$16.14 ÷ A$0.76 (Based on the year to June 2018.)
Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each A$1 of company earnings. All else being equal, it’s better to pay a low price — but as Warren Buffett said, ‘It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.’
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
When earnings fall, the ‘E’ decreases, over time. That means unless the share price falls, the P/E will increase in a few years. So while a stock may look cheap based on past earnings, it could be expensive based on future earnings.
Most would be impressed by Monadelphous Group earnings growth of 24% in the last year. Unfortunately, earnings per share are down 24% a year, over 5 years.
How Does Monadelphous Group’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. The image below shows that Monadelphous Group has a higher P/E than the average (16.8) P/E for companies in the construction industry.
Monadelphous Group’s P/E tells us that market participants think the company will perform better than its industry peers, going forward. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn’t guarantee future growth. So investors should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.
Remember: P/E Ratios Don’t Consider The Balance Sheet
Don’t forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in 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.
Is Debt Impacting Monadelphous Group’s P/E?
Since Monadelphous Group holds net cash of AU$188m, it can spend on growth, justifying a higher P/E ratio than otherwise.
The Verdict On Monadelphous Group’s P/E Ratio
Monadelphous Group’s P/E is 21.2 which is above average (15.6) in the AU market. With cash in the bank the company has plenty of growth options — and it is already on the right track. So it does not seem strange that the P/E is above average.
When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. 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.
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 editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
