In This Article:
The Indra Sistemas (BME:IDR) share price has done well in the last month, posting a gain of 30%. And the full year gain of 11% isn't too shabby, either!
Assuming no other changes, a sharply higher share price makes a stock less attractive to potential buyers. In the long term, share prices tend to follow earnings per share, but in the short term prices bounce around in response to short term factors (which are not always obvious). So some would prefer to hold off buying when there is a lot of optimism towards a stock. Perhaps the simplest way to get a read on investors' expectations of a business is to look at its Price to Earnings Ratio (PE Ratio). A high P/E implies that investors have high expectations of what a company can achieve compared to a company with a low P/E ratio.
See our latest analysis for Indra Sistemas
How Does Indra Sistemas's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
We can tell from its P/E ratio of 12.92 that sentiment around Indra Sistemas isn't particularly high. If you look at the image below, you can see Indra Sistemas has a lower P/E than the average (19.4) in the it industry classification.
This suggests that market participants think Indra Sistemas will underperform other companies in its industry. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.
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. And in that case, the P/E ratio itself will drop rather quickly. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up.
Indra Sistemas increased earnings per share by a whopping 34% last year. But earnings per share are down 1.1% per year over the last five years.
Don't Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits
Don't forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. That means it doesn't take debt or cash into account. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future) by investing in growth. That means taking on debt (or spending its cash).
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).
Indra Sistemas's Balance Sheet
Net debt is 35% of Indra Sistemas's market cap. You'd want to be aware of this fact, but it doesn't bother us.