In This Article:
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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 look at Sing Holdings Limited's (SGX:5IC) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company's share price. Based on the last twelve months, Sing Holdings's P/E ratio is 8.28. In other words, at today's prices, investors are paying SGD8.28 for every SGD1 in prior year profit.
Check out our latest analysis for Sing 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 Sing Holdings:
P/E of 8.28 = SGD0.39 ÷ SGD0.046 (Based on the year to March 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
If earnings fall then in the future the 'E' will be lower. That means even if the current P/E is low, it will increase over time if the share price stays flat. So while a stock may look cheap based on past earnings, it could be expensive based on future earnings.
Sing Holdings's 278% EPS improvement over the last year was like bamboo growth after rain; rapid and impressive. Unfortunately, earnings per share are down 23% a year, over 3 years.
Does Sing Holdings Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?
The P/E ratio essentially measures market expectations of a company. The image below shows that Sing Holdings has a lower P/E than the average (9.5) P/E for companies in the real estate industry.
This suggests that market participants think Sing Holdings will underperform other companies in its industry. Many investors like to buy stocks when the market is pessimistic about their prospects. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.
A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank
It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.
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).