This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use ASR Nederland N.V.'s (AMS:ASRNL) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Based on the last twelve months, ASR Nederland's P/E ratio is 5.75. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 17%.

See our latest analysis for ASR Nederland

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 ASR Nederland:

P/E of 5.75 = €33.99 ÷ €5.91 (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2019.)

Is A High P/E 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 Does ASR Nederland's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. We can see in the image below that the average P/E (12.4) for companies in the insurance industry is higher than ASR Nederland's P/E.

Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that ASR Nederland shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. Many investors like to buy stocks when the market is pessimistic about their prospects. It is arguably worth checking if insiders are buying shares, because that might imply they believe the stock is undervalued.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

Earnings growth rates have a big influence on P/E ratios. When earnings grow, the 'E' increases, over time. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. And as that P/E ratio drops, the company will look cheap, unless its share price increases.

ASR Nederland maintained roughly steady earnings over the last twelve months. But over the longer term (3 years), earnings per share have increased by 15%.

Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet

It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.

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.