Here's What Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SYBT) P/E Is Telling Us

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This article is for investors who would like to improve their understanding of price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). To keep it practical, we'll show how Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SYBT) P/E ratio could help you assess the value on offer. Looking at earnings over the last twelve months, Stock Yards Bancorp has a P/E ratio of 14.08. That means that at current prices, buyers pay $14.08 for every $1 in trailing yearly profits.

See our latest analysis for Stock Yards Bancorp

How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?

The formula for price to earnings is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for Stock Yards Bancorp:

P/E of 14.08 = $35.92 ÷ $2.55 (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2019.)

Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio means that investors are paying a higher price for each $1 of company earnings. That isn't necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. That's because companies that grow earnings per share quickly will rapidly increase the 'E' in the equation. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. And as that P/E ratio drops, the company will look cheap, unless its share price increases.

Notably, Stock Yards Bancorp grew EPS by a whopping 42% in the last year. And its annual EPS growth rate over 5 years is 14%. With that performance, I would expect it to have an above average P/E ratio.

How Does Stock Yards Bancorp's P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

One good way to get a quick read on what market participants expect of a company is to look at its P/E ratio. As you can see below, Stock Yards Bancorp has a higher P/E than the average company (12.9) in the banks industry.

Its relatively high P/E ratio indicates that Stock Yards Bancorp shareholders think it will perform better than other companies in its industry classification.

Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet

The 'Price' in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.

Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.

Is Debt Impacting Stock Yards Bancorp's P/E?

The extra options and safety that comes with Stock Yards Bancorp's US$6.4m net cash position means that it deserves a higher P/E than it would if it had a lot of net debt.

The Verdict On Stock Yards Bancorp's P/E Ratio

Stock Yards Bancorp trades on a P/E ratio of 14.1, which is below the US market average of 18.2. It grew its EPS nicely over the last year, and the healthy balance sheet implies there is more potential for growth. One might conclude that the market is a bit pessimistic, given the low P/E ratio.

Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If it is underestimating a company, investors can make money by buying and holding the shares until the market corrects itself. So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock.

Of course you might be able to find a better stock than Stock Yards Bancorp. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.