Yahoo Finance Investors Aren't Buying PageGroup plc's (LON:PAGE) Earnings
PageGroup plc's (LON:PAGE) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 11.5x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in the United Kingdom, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 16x and even P/E's above 29x are quite common. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, PageGroup's earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to get any better. If you still like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.
See our latest analysis for PageGroup
If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on PageGroup.
What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?
The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as low as PageGroup's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's bottom line as the year before. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 39% overall rise in EPS, in spite of its uninspiring short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.
Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to slump, contracting by 6.7% per year during the coming three years according to the nine analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 9.4% growth each year, that's a disappointing outcome.
In light of this, it's understandable that PageGroup's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.
The Final Word
It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.
As we suspected, our examination of PageGroup's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking earnings is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.
Having said that, be aware PageGroup is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.
You might be able to find a better investment than PageGroup. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20x (but have proven they can grow earnings).
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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