Here’s What Momo Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MOMO) P/E Ratio Is Telling Us
This article is written for those who want to get better at using price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We’ll look at Momo Inc.’s (NASDAQ:MOMO) P/E ratio and reflect on what it tells us about the company’s share price. Based on the last twelve months, Momo’s P/E ratio is 10.95. In other words, at today’s prices, investors are paying $10.95 for every $1 in prior year profit.
Check out our latest analysis for Momo
How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?
The formula for P/E is:
Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)
Or for Momo:
P/E of 10.95 = $23.38 ÷ $2.14 (Based on the year to September 2018.)
Is A High P/E Ratio Good?
A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each $1 of company earnings. That is not a good or a bad thing per se, but a high P/E does imply buyers are optimistic about the future.
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. 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. Then, a lower P/E should attract more buyers, pushing the share price up.
Momo increased earnings per share by a whopping 39% last year. And earnings per share have improved by 76% annually, over the last five years. So we’d generally expect it to have a relatively high P/E ratio.
How Does Momo’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
The P/E ratio indicates whether the market has higher or lower expectations of a company. If you look at the image below, you can see Momo has a lower P/E than the average (23.2) in the interactive media and services industry classification.
Momo’s P/E tells us that market participants think it will not fare as well as its peers in the same industry. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. It is arguably worth checking if insiders are buying shares, because that might imply they believe the stock is undervalued.
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. Thus, the metric does not reflect cash or debt held by the company. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth.
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.
How Does Momo’s Debt Impact Its P/E Ratio?
Since Momo holds net cash of US$776m, it can spend on growth, justifying a higher P/E ratio than otherwise.
The Bottom Line On Momo’s P/E Ratio
Momo’s P/E is 10.9 which is below average (15.8) in the US market. The net cash position gives plenty of options to the business, and the recent improvement in EPS is good to see. The below average P/E ratio suggests that market participants don’t believe the strong growth will continue. Since analysts are predicting growth will continue, one might expect to see a higher P/E so it may be worth looking closer.
When the market is wrong about a stock, it gives savvy investors an opportunity. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So this free visualization of the analyst consensus on future earnings could help you make the right decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold.
You might be able to find a better buy than Momo. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings).
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.
