In This Article:
The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Biosynex SA's (EPA:ALBIO) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Looking at earnings over the last twelve months, Biosynex has a P/E ratio of 49.98. That means that at current prices, buyers pay €49.98 for every €1 in trailing yearly profits.
See our latest analysis for Biosynex
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 Biosynex:
P/E of 49.98 = €2.97 ÷ €0.059 (Based on the year to December 2018.)
Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each €1 of company earnings. That isn't necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future.
Does Biosynex Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?
One good way to get a quick read on what market participants expect of a company is to look at its P/E ratio. The image below shows that Biosynex has a higher P/E than the average (31.5) P/E for companies in the medical equipment industry.
That means that the market expects Biosynex 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.
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. Earnings growth means that in the future the 'E' will be higher. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up.
In the last year, Biosynex grew EPS like Taylor Swift grew her fan base back in 2010; the 72% gain was both fast and well deserved.
Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet
One drawback of using a P/E ratio is that it considers market capitalization, but not the balance sheet. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. The exact same company would hypothetically deserve a higher P/E ratio if it had a strong balance sheet, than if it had a weak one with lots of debt, because a cashed up company can spend on growth.
Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof).