Why most investors Don't rely on P/E ratios
If you’ve ever read a financial article, you’ve probably seen a P/E ratio mentioned. A P/E ratio is a metric a lot of investors use to quickly figure out if a company is expensive or cheap. While using a P/E ratio to quickly look at a stock is a good tool there’s a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t rely on it for valuing a company. What is a P/E Ratio? Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash A P/E ratio stands for price-to-earnings. It compares a companies stock price to their earnings per share. You can calculate a companies P/E by dividing the stock price by the companies annual earnings per share. For example if a company is trading at $10 a share and has $1 of EPS it’s trading at a P/E ratio of 10. A P/E ratio can be Manipulated A P/E ratio can be manipulated a couple of different ways. One of those ways can be “creative” accounting. Some companies can shift depreciation policies or by adding a non-recurring gain to the bottom line. While “creative accounting” is legal many...