Is Utah Medical Products Inc (UTMD) A Buy At Its Current Price?
Utah Medical Products Inc (NASDAQ:UTMD) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 22.1x, which is lower than the industry average of 43x. While this makes UTMD appear like a great stock to buy, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. Today, I will break down what the P/E ratio is, how to interpret it and what to watch out for. See our latest analysis for UTMD
What you need to know about the P/E ratio
P/E is often used for relative valuation since earnings power is a chief 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 UTMD
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
UTMD Price-Earnings Ratio = 77.25 ÷ 3.5 = 22.1x
The P/E ratio itself doesn’t tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful 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 UTMD, 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. Since UTMD’s P/E of 22.1x is lower than its industry peers (43x), it means that investors are paying less than they should for each dollar of UTMD’s earnings. As such, our analysis shows that UTMD represents an under-priced stock.
A few caveats
However, before you rush out to buy UTMD, 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 UTMD, or else the difference in P/E might be a result of other factors. For example, if you are comparing lower risk firms with UTMD, then its P/E would naturally be lower than its peers, as investors would value those with lower risk at a higher price. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing UTMD to are fairly valued by the market. If this does not hold, there is a possibility that UTMD’s P/E is lower because our peer group is overvalued by the market.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? 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 UTMD 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.
Are you a potential investor? If UTMD has been on your watch list for a while, it is best you also consider its intrinsic valuation. Looking at PE on its own will not give you the full picture of the stock as an investment, so I suggest you should also look at other relative valuation metrics like EV/EBITDA or PEG.
PE is one aspect of your portfolio construction to consider when holding or entering into a stock. But it is certainly not the only factor. Take a look at our most recent infographic report on Utah Medical Products for a more in-depth analysis of the stock to help you make a well-informed investment decision. Since we know a limitation of PE is it doesn’t properly account for growth, you can use our free platform to see my list of stocks with a high growth potential and see if their PE is still reasonable.
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.
