Yahoo Finance Should You Be Tempted To Buy J Sainsbury plc (LSE:SBRY) At Its Current Price?
J Sainsbury plc (LSE:SBRY) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 13.5x, which is lower than the industry average of 24.1x. While this makes SBRY appear like a great stock to buy, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. Today, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it. Check out our latest analysis for J Sainsbury
Demystifying the P/E ratio
The P/E ratio is one of many ratios used in relative valuation. By comparing a stock’s price per share to its earnings per share, we are able to see how much investors are paying for each pound of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for SBRY
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
SBRY Price-Earnings Ratio = 2.37 ÷ 0.175 = 13.5x
On its own, the P/E ratio doesn’t tell you much; however, it becomes extremely useful when you compare it with other similar companies. We want to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar characteristics as SBRY, such as size and country of operation. One way of gathering a peer group is to use firms in the same industry, which is what I’ll do. Since SBRY's P/E of 13.5x is lower than its industry peers (24.1x), it means that investors are paying less than they should for each dollar of SBRY's earnings. Therefore, according to this analysis, SBRY is an under-priced stock.
A few caveats
However, before you rush out to buy SBRY, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on two key assumptions. Firstly, our peer group contains companies that are similar to SBRY. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to other factors. For example, if you are comparing lower risk firms with SBRY, then its P/E would naturally be lower than its peers, as investors would value those with lower risk at a higher price. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing SBRY to are fairly valued by the market. If this does not hold, there is a possibility that SBRY’s P/E is lower because our peer group is overvalued by the market.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? If your personal research into the stock confirms what the P/E ratio is telling you, it might be a good time to add more of SBRY to your portfolio. But keep in mind that the usefulness of relative valuation depends on whether you are comfortable with making the assumptions I mentioned above.
Are you a potential investor? If SBRY has been on your watch list for a while, it is best you also consider its intrinsic valuation. Looking at PE on its own will not give you the full picture of the stock as an investment, so I suggest you should also look at other relative valuation metrics like EV/EBITDA or PEG.
PE is one aspect of your portfolio construction to consider when holding or entering into a stock. But it is certainly not the only factor. Take a look at our most recent infographic report on J Sainsbury for a more in-depth analysis of the stock to help you make a well-informed investment decision. Since we know a limitation of PE is it doesn't properly account for growth, you can use our free platform to see my list of stocks with a high growth potential and see if their PE is still reasonable.
To help readers see pass 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.
