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 StarHub Ltd's (SGX:CC3) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. StarHub has a P/E ratio of 14.05, based on the last twelve months. In other words, at today's prices, investors are paying SGD14.05 for every SGD1 in prior year profit.

View our latest analysis for StarHub

How Do I Calculate A Price To Earnings Ratio?

The formula for P/E is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for StarHub:

P/E of 14.05 = SGD1.32 ÷ SGD0.094 (Based on the year to June 2019.)

Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to pay a higher price for each SGD1 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.

Does StarHub Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?

The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. The image below shows that StarHub has a P/E ratio that is roughly in line with the wireless telecom industry average (13.8).

Its P/E ratio suggests that StarHub shareholders think that in the future it will perform about the same as other companies in its industry classification. The company could surprise by performing better than average, in the future. I would further inform my view by checking insider buying and selling., among other things.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

Companies that shrink earnings per share quickly will rapidly decrease the 'E' in the equation. That means even if the current P/E is low, it will increase over time if the share price stays flat. A higher P/E should indicate the stock is expensive relative to others -- and that may encourage shareholders to sell.

StarHub saw earnings per share decrease by 32% last year. And over the longer term (5 years) earnings per share have decreased 15% annually. This might lead to muted expectations.

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

The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth.

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.

Is Debt Impacting StarHub's P/E?

StarHub has net debt equal to 41% of its market cap. While that's enough to warrant consideration, it doesn't really concern us.