Price-Earnings Ratio financial definition of Price-Earnings Ratio. Price-Earnings Ratio finance term by the Free Online Dictionary.

Price-earnings ratio

Shows the multiple of earnings at which a stock sells. Determined by dividing current stock price by current earnings per share (adjusted for stock splits). Earnings per share for the P/E ratio are determined by dividing earnings for past 12 months by the number of common shares outstanding. Higher multiple means investors have higher expectations for future growth, and have bid up the stock's price.

price-earnings ratio (P/E ratio)

A common stock analysis statistic in which the current price of a stock is divided by the current (or sometimes the projected) earnings per share of the issuing firm. As a rule, a relatively high price-earnings ratio is an indication that investors believe the firm's earnings are likely to grow. Price-earnings ratios vary significantly among companies, among industries, and over time. One of the important influences on this ratio is long-term interest rates. In general, relatively high rates result in low price-earnings ratios; low interest rates result in high price-earnings ratios. Also called earnings multiple, market multiple, multiple, P/E ratio. See also forward P/E, trailing P/E.

Price-Earnings Ratio

The price of a security per share at a given time divided by its annual earnings per share. Often, the earnings used are trailing 12 month earnings, but some analysts use other forms. The P/E ratio is a way to help determine a security's stock valuation, that is, the fair value of a stock in a perfect market. It is also a measure of expected, but not realized, growth. Companies expected to announce higher earnings usually have a higher P/E ratio, while companies expected to announce lower earnings usually have a lower P/E ratio. See also: PEG

Price-Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio)

What Does Price-Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio) Mean?

A popular valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared with its per-share earnings. It is calculated as shown here:

For example, if a company currently is trading at $43 a share and earnings over the last 12 months were $1.95 per share, the P/E ratio for the stock will be 22.05 ($43/$1.95). EPS usually is calculated from data from the previous four quarters (trailing P/E), but sometimes future earnings estimates are used (projected or forward P/E). A third variation uses the sum of the last two actual quarters and the estimates for the next two quarters. P/E sometimes is called the price multiple or earnings multiple.

Investopedia explains Price-Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio)

In general, a high P/E suggests that investors are expecting higher earnings growth in the future compared with companies with a lower P/E. However, the P/E ratio does not tell the whole story. It is more helpful to compare the P/E ratios of companies in the same industry, the overall market, or the company's own historical P/E. It would not be useful for investors to compare the P/E of a technology company (high P/E) to that of an electric utility company (low P/E) as each industry has a much different growth potential. The P/E sometimes is referred to as the multiple, because it shows how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings. If a company trades at a multiple (P/E) of 20, this means that investors are willing to pay $20 for $1 of current earnings. Note: The earnings number in the denominator (earnings) is susceptible to manipulation, making the quality of the P/E only as good as the quality of the underlying earnings number.