When Should You Buy Chesswood Group Limited (TSX:CHW)?
Chesswood Group Limited (TSX:CHW) is trading with a trailing P/E of 11.5x, which is lower than the industry average of 39.6x. Although some investors may jump to the conclusion that this is a great buying opportunity, understanding the assumptions behind the P/E ratio might change your mind. Today, I will break down what the P/E ratio is, how to interpret it and what to watch out for. View our latest analysis for Chesswood Group
Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio
P/E is often used for relative valuation since earnings power is a chief driver of investment value. 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 dollar of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for CHW
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
CHW Price-Earnings Ratio = 12.27 ÷ 1.063 = 11.5x
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 CHW, such as size and country of operation. A quick method of creating a peer group is to use companies in the same industry, which is what I will do. CHW’s P/E of 11.5x is lower than its industry peers (39.6x), which implies that each dollar of CHW’s earnings is being undervalued by investors. Therefore, according to this analysis, CHW is an under-priced stock.
Assumptions to be aware of
Before you jump to the conclusion that CHW is the perfect buying opportunity, it is important to realise that our conclusion rests on two assertions. The first is that our “similar companies” are actually similar to CHW, or else the difference in P/E might be a result of other factors. For example, if you compared higher growth firms with CHW, 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 CHW to are fairly valued by the market. If this is violated, CHW's P/E may be lower than its peers as they are actually overvalued by investors.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? You may have already conducted fundamental analysis on the stock as a shareholder, so its current undervaluation could signal a good buying opportunity to increase your exposure to CHW. Now that you understand the ins and outs of the PE metric, you should know to bear in mind its limitations before you make an investment decision.
Are you a potential investor? If you are considering investing in CHW, basing your decision on the PE metric at one point in time is certainly not sufficient. I recommend you do additional analysis by looking at its intrinsic valuation and using other relative valuation ratios like PEG or EV/EBITDA.
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 Chesswood Group 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.
