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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 Shaw Communications Inc.'s (TSE:SJR.B) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Looking at earnings over the last twelve months, Shaw Communications has a P/E ratio of 29.87. In other words, at today's prices, investors are paying CA$29.87 for every CA$1 in prior year profit.
View our latest analysis for Shaw Communications
How Do You Calculate Shaw Communications's P/E Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Shaw Communications:
P/E of 29.87 = CA$26.92 ÷ CA$0.90 (Based on the trailing twelve months to February 2019.)
Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?
The higher the P/E ratio, the higher the price tag of a business, relative to its trailing earnings. 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 Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
When earnings fall, the 'E' decreases, over time. That means even if the current P/E is low, it will increase over time if the share price stays flat. Then, a higher P/E might scare off shareholders, pushing the share price down.
Shaw Communications's 81% EPS improvement over the last year was like bamboo growth after rain; rapid and impressive. On the other hand, the longer term performance is poor, with EPS down 12% per year over 5 years.
How Does Shaw Communications's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. As you can see below, Shaw Communications has a higher P/E than the average company (23.2) in the media industry.
That means that the market expects Shaw Communications will outperform other companies in its industry. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn't guarantee future growth. So investors should always consider the P/E ratio alongside other factors, such as whether company directors have been buying shares.
Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet
The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. 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.