This article is for investors who would like to improve their understanding of price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Roxy-Pacific Holdings Limited's (SGX:E8Z) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. Based on the last twelve months, Roxy-Pacific Holdings's P/E ratio is 33.55. That means that at current prices, buyers pay SGD33.55 for every SGD1 in trailing yearly profits.
See our latest analysis for Roxy-Pacific Holdings
How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Roxy-Pacific Holdings:
P/E of 33.55 = SGD0.38 ÷ SGD0.01 (Based on the year to September 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 isn't necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future.
How Does Roxy-Pacific Holdings's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
The P/E ratio essentially measures market expectations of a company. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (9.8) for companies in the real estate industry is a lot lower than Roxy-Pacific Holdings's P/E.
That means that the market expects Roxy-Pacific Holdings will outperform other companies in its industry. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn't guarantee future growth. So further research is always essential. I often monitor director buying and selling.
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
When earnings fall, the 'E' decreases, over time. That means unless the share price falls, the P/E will increase in a few years. A higher P/E should indicate the stock is expensive relative to others -- and that may encourage shareholders to sell.
Roxy-Pacific Holdings saw earnings per share decrease by 43% last year. And EPS is down 31% a year, over the last 5 years. This might lead to muted expectations.
A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank
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.
Such expenditure might be good or bad, in the long term, but the point here is that the balance sheet is not reflected by this ratio.