At £2.29, Is Innovaderma PLC (LSE:IDP) A Sell?
Innovaderma PLC (LSE:IDP) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 37.9x, which is higher than the industry average of 27.2x. While IDP might seem like a stock to avoid or sell if you own it, it is important to understand the assumptions behind the P/E ratio before you make any investment decisions. In this article, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it. See our latest analysis for IDP
Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio
P/E is a popular ratio used for relative valuation. It compares a stock’s price per share to the stock’s earnings per share. A more intuitive way of understanding the P/E ratio is to think of it as how much investors are paying for each pound of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for IDP
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
IDP Price-Earnings Ratio = 2.29 ÷ 0.06 = 37.9x
The P/E ratio itself doesn’t tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful 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 IDP, 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. At 37.9x, IDP’s P/E is higher than its industry peers (27.2x). This implies that investors are overvaluing each dollar of IDP’s earnings. As such, our analysis shows that IDP represents an over-priced stock.
Assumptions to be aware of
However, before you rush out to sell your IDP shares, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on two key assumptions. Firstly, our peer group contains companies that are similar to IDP. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to other factors. For example, if you compared higher growth firms with IDP, then its P/E would naturally be lower since investors would reward its peers’ higher growth with a higher price. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing IDP to are fairly valued by the market. If this does not hold, there is a possibility that IDP’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 rebalance your portfolio and reduce your holdings in IDP. 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 you are considering investing in IDP, looking at the PE ratio on its own is not enough to make a well-informed decision. You will benefit from looking at additional analysis and considering its intrinsic valuation along with other relative valuation metrics like PEG and EV/Sales.
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 Innovaderma 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.
