Market Participants Recognise Edgewell Personal Care Company's (NYSE:EPC) Earnings
With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 20.5x Edgewell Personal Care Company (NYSE:EPC) may be sending bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios under 17x and even P/E's lower than 10x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
Recent times haven't been advantageous for Edgewell Personal Care as its earnings have been rising slower than most other companies. It might be that many expect the uninspiring earnings performance to recover significantly, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be very nervous about the viability of the share price.
Check out our latest analysis for Edgewell Personal Care
Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on Edgewell Personal Care will help you uncover what's on the horizon.
Does Growth Match The High P/E?
The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as high as Edgewell Personal Care's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 7.3% last year. Still, EPS has barely risen at all in aggregate from three years ago, which is not ideal. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.
Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 63% as estimated by the eight analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 12%, which is noticeably less attractive.
With this information, we can see why Edgewell Personal Care is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.
What We Can Learn From Edgewell Personal Care's P/E?
We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.
As we suspected, our examination of Edgewell Personal Care's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.
Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Edgewell Personal Care that you should be aware of.
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 a strong growth track record, trading on a P/E below 20x.
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.
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