Does Enstar Group Limited’s (NASDAQ:ESGR) PE Ratio Signal A Selling Opportunity?
This article is intended for those of you who are at the beginning of your investing journey and want to begin learning about how to value company based on its current earnings and what are the drawbacks of this method.
Enstar Group Limited (NASDAQ:ESGR) trades with a trailing P/E of 35.3, which is higher than the industry average of 17. While this might not seem positive, it is important to understand the assumptions behind the P/E ratio before you make any investment decisions. In this article, I will deconstruct the P/E ratio and highlight what you need to be careful of when using the P/E ratio.
See our latest analysis for Enstar Group
What you need to know about the P/E ratio
P/E is often used for relative valuation since earnings power is a chief driver of investment value. 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 dollar of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for ESGR
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
ESGR Price-Earnings Ratio = $212 ÷ $6.007 = 35.3x
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 ESGR, such as size and country of operation. A common peer group is companies that exist in the same industry, which is what I use. Since ESGR’s P/E of 35.3 is higher than its industry peers (17), it means that investors are paying more for each dollar of ESGR’s earnings. This multiple is a median of profitable companies of 25 Insurance companies in US including Genworth Financial, Syncora Holdings and Reinsurance Group of America. You could think of it like this: the market is pricing ESGR as if it is a stronger company than the average of its industry group.
A few caveats
However, you should be aware that this analysis makes certain assumptions. The first is that our “similar companies” are actually similar to ESGR. If not, the difference in P/E might be a result of other factors. Take, for example, the scenario where Enstar Group Limited is growing profits more quickly than the average comparable company. In that case, the market may be correct to value it on a higher P/E ratio. We should also be aware that the stocks we are comparing to ESGR may not be fairly valued. So while we can reasonably surmise that it is optimistically valued relative to a peer group, it might be fairly valued, if the peer group is undervalued.
What this means for you:
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 ESGR. But keep in mind that the usefulness of relative valuation depends on whether you are comfortable with making the assumptions I mentioned above. Remember that basing your investment decision off one metric alone is certainly not sufficient. There are many things I have not taken into account in this article and the PE ratio is very one-dimensional. If you have not done so already, I highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ESGR’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for ESGR’s outlook.
Past Track Record: Has ESGR been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of ESGR’s historicals for more clarity.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
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.
