Yahoo Finance There's No Escaping Healius Limited's (ASX:HLS) Muted Earnings
When close to half the companies in Australia have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may consider Healius Limited (ASX:HLS) as an attractive investment with its 9.5x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.
Recent times have been advantageous for Healius as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings performance might be less impressive moving forward. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
Check out our latest analysis for Healius
Keen to find out how analysts think Healius' future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.
What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?
The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as low as Healius' is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 183% last year. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 9,007% 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.
Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 15% each year over the next three years. That's not great when the rest of the market is expected to grow by 13% per year.
With this information, we are not surprised that Healius is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.
The Bottom Line On Healius' P/E
Using the price-to-earnings ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.
As we suspected, our examination of Healius' 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. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.
You need to take note of risks, for example - Healius has 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.
If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Healius, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.
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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.
