Is Pacific Coast Oil Trust (NYSE:ROYT) A Buy At Its Current PE Ratio?
Pacific Coast Oil Trust (NYSE:ROYT) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 12.1x, which is lower than the industry average of 14.1x. While ROYT might seem like an attractive stock to buy, it is important to understand the assumptions behind the P/E ratio before you make any investment decisions. In this article, I will break down what the P/E ratio is, how to interpret it and what to watch out for. Check out our latest analysis for Pacific Coast Oil Trust
Demystifying the P/E ratio
The P/E ratio is a popular ratio used in relative valuation since earnings power is a key driver of investment value. By comparing a stock’s price per share to its earnings per share, we are able to see how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for ROYT
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
ROYT Price-Earnings Ratio = $2.33 ÷ $0.192 = 12.1x
On its own, the P/E ratio doesn’t tell you much; however, it becomes extremely useful when you compare it with other similar companies. Our goal is to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar attributes to ROYT, such as company lifetime and products sold. One way of gathering a peer group is to use firms in the same industry, which is what I’ll do. At 12.1x, ROYT’s P/E is lower than its industry peers (14.1x). This implies that investors are undervaluing each dollar of ROYT’s earnings. Therefore, according to this analysis, ROYT is an under-priced stock.
A few caveats
However, before you rush out to buy ROYT, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on two key assumptions. The first is that our “similar companies” are actually similar to ROYT, or else the difference in P/E might be a result of other factors. For example, if you compared lower risk firms with ROYT, then investors would naturally value it at a lower price since it is a riskier investment. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing ROYT to are fairly valued by the market. If this is violated, ROYT’s P/E may be lower than its peers as they are actually overvalued by investors.
What this means for you:
If your personal research into the stock confirms what the P/E ratio is telling you, it might be a good time to add more of ROYT to your portfolio. But keep in mind that the usefulness of relative valuation depends on whether you are comfortable with making the assumptions I mentioned above. Remember that basing your investment decision off one metric alone is certainly not sufficient. There are many things I have not taken into account in this article and the PE ratio is very one-dimensional. If you have not done so already, I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
Financial Health: Is ROYT’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
Past Track Record: Has ROYT been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of ROYT’s historicals for more clarity.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see pass 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.
