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Is Siebert Financial Corp (NASDAQ:SIEB) A Sell At Its Current PE Ratio?

Siebert Financial Corp (NASDAQ:SIEB) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 47.7x, which is higher than the industry average of 16.3x. While this makes SIEB appear like a stock to avoid or sell if you own it, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. Today, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it. See our latest analysis for Siebert Financial

Demystifying the P/E ratio

NasdaqCM:SIEB PE PEG Gauge Jun 8th 18
NasdaqCM:SIEB PE PEG Gauge Jun 8th 18

The P/E ratio is a popular ratio used in relative valuation since earnings power is a key driver of investment value. It compares a stock’s price per share to the stock’s earnings per share. A more intuitive way of understanding the P/E ratio is to think of it as how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.

P/E Calculation for SIEB

Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share

SIEB Price-Earnings Ratio = $7.61 ÷ $0.159 = 47.7x

The P/E ratio itself doesn’t tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful when you compare it with other similar companies. We want to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar characteristics as SIEB, such as size and country of operation. A quick method of creating a peer group is to use companies in the same industry, which is what I will do. SIEB’s P/E of 47.7x is higher than its industry peers (16.3x), which implies that each dollar of SIEB’s earnings is being overvalued by investors. Therefore, according to this analysis, SIEB is an over-priced stock.

Assumptions to be aware of

Before you jump to the conclusion that SIEB should be banished from your portfolio, it is important to realise that our conclusion rests on two assertions. Firstly, our peer group contains companies that are similar to SIEB. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to other factors. For example, if you compared lower risk firms with SIEB, 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 SIEB to are fairly valued by the market. If this is violated, SIEB’s P/E may be lower than its peers as they are actually overvalued by investors.

What this means for you:

Since you may have already conducted your due diligence on SIEB, the overvaluation of the stock may mean it is a good time to reduce your current holdings. But at the end of the day, keep in mind that relative valuation relies heavily on critical assumptions I’ve outlined 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 highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

  1. Financial Health: Is SIEB’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.

  2. Past Track Record: Has SIEB 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 SIEB’s historicals for more clarity.

  3. 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.

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