Earnings-price ratio

Earnings-Price Ratio

The annual earnings of a security per share at a given time divided into its price per share. It is the inverse of the more common price-earnings ratio. Often, the earnings one uses are trailing 12-month earnings, but some analysts use other forms. The earnings-price 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. It may be used in place of the price-earnings ratio if, say, there are no earnings (as one cannot divide by zero). It is also called the earnings yield or the earnings capitalization ratio.

earnings-price ratio (E/P ratio)

A measure indicating the rate at which investors will capitalize a firm's expected earnings in the coming period. This ratio is calculated by dividing the projected earnings per share by the current market price of the stock. A relatively low E/P ratio anticipates higher-than-average growth in earnings. Earnings-price ratio is the inverse of the price-earnings ratio. Also called earnings capitalization rate, earnings yield.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

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