Murphy USA Inc.'s (NYSE:MUSA) Prospects Need A Boost To Lift Shares
Murphy USA Inc.'s (NYSE:MUSA) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 11.3x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 19x and even P/E's above 37x are quite common. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
Recent times have been pleasing for Murphy USA as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company's earnings are going to fall away like everyone else's soon. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
View our latest analysis for Murphy USA
If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Murphy USA.
Does Growth Match The Low P/E?
Murphy USA's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 147% last year. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 227% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.
Shifting to the future, estimates from the four analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 11% per year over the next three years. With the market predicted to deliver 13% growth each year, that's a disappointing outcome.
With this information, we are not surprised that Murphy USA is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.
The Bottom Line On Murphy USA's P/E
While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.
We've established that Murphy USA maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.
You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 3 warning signs for Murphy USA you should be aware of, and 1 of them is significant.
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.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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