Investors Appear Satisfied With Intercede Group plc's (LON:IGP) Prospects

Intercede Group plc's (LON:IGP) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 42.4x might make it look like a strong sell right now compared to the market in the United Kingdom, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 16x and even P/E's below 9x are quite common. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, Intercede Group has been doing quite well of late. It seems that many are expecting the company to continue defying the broader market adversity, which has increased investors’ willingness to pay up for the stock. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Intercede Group

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Keen to find out how analysts think Intercede Group's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Intercede Group would need to produce outstanding growth well in excess of the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 123%. However, the latest three year period hasn't been as great in aggregate as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the one analyst covering the company suggest earnings growth will be highly resilient over the next year growing by 15%. That would be an excellent outcome when the market is expected to decline by 1.6%.

With this information, we can see why Intercede Group is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. Right now, investors are willing to pay more for a stock that is shaping up to buck the trend of the broader market going backwards.

What We Can Learn From Intercede Group's P/E?

While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

We've established that Intercede Group maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth potentially beating a struggling market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. Our only concern is whether its earnings trajectory can keep outperforming under these tough market conditions. Although, if the company's prospects don't change they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider and we've discovered 3 warning signs for Intercede Group (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Intercede Group, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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