Yahoo Finance Here’s What KWS Saat SE’s (FRA:KWS) P/E Ratio Is Telling Us
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 KWS Saat SE’s (FRA:KWS) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. KWS Saat has a price to earnings ratio of 19.32, based on the last twelve months. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 5.2%.
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How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for KWS Saat:
P/E of 19.32 = €290 ÷ €15.01 (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2018.)
Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio implies that investors pay a higher price for the earning power of the business. 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
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. That’s because companies that grow earnings per share quickly will rapidly increase the ‘E’ in the equation. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others — and that may attract buyers.
KWS Saat increased earnings per share by 5.6% last year. And it has bolstered its earnings per share by 6.1% per year over the last five years.
How Does KWS Saat’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. If you look at the image below, you can see KWS Saat has a lower P/E than the average (22.7) in the food industry classification.
KWS Saat’s P/E tells us that market participants think it will not fare as well as its peers in the same industry. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. It is arguably worth checking if insiders are buying shares, because that might imply they believe the stock is undervalued.
Don’t Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits
Don’t forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. 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).
How Does KWS Saat’s Debt Impact Its P/E Ratio?
Net debt totals just 5.1% of KWS Saat’s market cap. So it doesn’t have as many options as it would with net cash, but its debt would not have much of an impact on its P/E ratio.
The Bottom Line On KWS Saat’s P/E Ratio
KWS Saat trades on a P/E ratio of 19.3, which is above the DE market average of 16.9. With debt at prudent levels and improving earnings, it’s fair to say the market expects steady progress in the future.
Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is better than it expects, you can make money by buying and holding for the long term. So this free visual report on analyst forecasts could hold they key to an excellent investment decision.
You might be able to find a better buy than KWS Saat. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings).
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
