In This Article:
To the annoyance of some shareholders, Accsys Technologies PLC (LON:AXS) shares are down a considerable 31% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. The recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 60% loss during that time.
In spite of the heavy fall in price, Accsys Technologies' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 65x might still make it look like a strong sell right now compared to the market in the United Kingdom, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 12x and even P/E's below 6x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.
With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Accsys Technologies has been doing relatively well. The P/E is probably high because investors think this strong earnings performance will continue. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.
Check out our latest analysis for Accsys Technologies
Keen to find out how analysts think Accsys Technologies' future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.
Does Growth Match The High P/E?
In order to justify its P/E ratio, Accsys Technologies would need to produce outstanding growth well in excess of the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 324% last year. However, the latest three year period hasn't been as great in aggregate as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.
Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 94% per year during the coming three years according to the five analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 10% per annum, which is noticeably less attractive.
In light of this, it's understandable that Accsys Technologies' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.
The Key Takeaway
Even after such a strong price drop, Accsys Technologies' P/E still exceeds the rest of the market significantly. It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.
We've established that Accsys Technologies maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.