Don’t Sell BWX Technologies Inc (NYSE:BWXT) Before You Read This
This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We’ll look at BWX Technologies Inc’s (NYSE:BWXT) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company’s share price. BWX Technologies has a price to earnings ratio of 37.73, based on the last twelve months. That means that at current prices, buyers pay $37.73 for every $1 in trailing yearly profits.
View our latest analysis for BWX Technologies
How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?
The formula for price to earnings is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for BWX Technologies:
P/E of 37.73 = $59.91 ÷ $1.59 (Based on the year to June 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 isn’t a good or a bad thing on its own, but a high P/E means that buyers have a higher opinion of the business’s prospects, relative to stocks with a lower P/E.
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
Earnings growth rates have a big influence on P/E ratios. When earnings grow, the ‘E’ increases, over time. That means even if the current P/E is high, it will reduce over time if the share price stays flat. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others — and that may attract buyers.
BWX Technologies saw earnings per share decrease by 17% last year. But over the longer term (3 years), earnings per share have increased by 23%. And it has shrunk its earnings per share by 2.7% per year over the last five years. This could justify a pessimistic P/E.
How Does BWX Technologies’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (21.3) for companies in the aerospace & defense industry is lower than BWX Technologies’s P/E.
That means that the market expects BWX Technologies will outperform other companies in its industry. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn’t guarantee future growth. So investors should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.
Don’t Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits
The ‘Price’ in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future), by taking on debt (or spending its remaining cash).
Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.
BWX Technologies’s Balance Sheet
BWX Technologies has net debt worth just 6.0% of its market capitalization. It would probably trade on a higher P/E ratio if it had a lot of cash, but I doubt it is having a big impact.
The Bottom Line On BWX Technologies’s P/E Ratio
BWX Technologies’s P/E is 37.7 which is above average (18.4) in the US market. With some debt but no EPS growth last year, the market has high expectations of future profits.
When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. People often underestimate remarkable growth — so investors can make money when fast growth is not fully appreciated. So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.
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.
