Many Still Looking Away From SiriusPoint Ltd. (NYSE:SPNT)
SiriusPoint Ltd.'s (NYSE:SPNT) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 4.9x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 17x and even P/E's above 34x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.
SiriusPoint certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually underperform the broader market in the near future. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
Check out our latest analysis for SiriusPoint
Although there are no analyst estimates available for SiriusPoint, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Is There Any Growth For SiriusPoint?
In order to justify its P/E ratio, SiriusPoint would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.
If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 388%. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 583% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.
This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 10% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.
In light of this, it's peculiar that SiriusPoint's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders believe the recent performance has exceeded its limits and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.
The Key Takeaway
Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.
We've established that SiriusPoint currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is higher than the wider market forecast. When we see strong earnings with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because the persistence of these recent medium-term conditions would normally provide a boost to the share price.
Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for SiriusPoint that you should be aware of.
If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly and trade on P/E's below 20x.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
