The Price Is Right For Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (ETR:DBAN)
With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 25.7x Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (ETR:DBAN) may be sending very bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Germany have P/E ratios under 16x and even P/E's lower than 9x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, Deutsche Beteiligungs' earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. It might be that many expect the dour earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.
View our latest analysis for Deutsche Beteiligungs
If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Deutsche Beteiligungs.
What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/E?
There's an inherent assumption that a company should far outperform the market for P/E ratios like Deutsche Beteiligungs' to be considered reasonable.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 73% decrease to the company's bottom line. At least EPS has managed not to go completely backwards from three years ago in aggregate, thanks to the earlier period of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.
Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 87% per annum during the coming three years according to the four analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 14% per year growth forecast for the broader market.
With this information, we can see why Deutsche Beteiligungs 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 Deutsche Beteiligungs' 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 Deutsche Beteiligungs maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.
And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Deutsche Beteiligungs you should know about.
It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).
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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.
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