To the annoyance of some shareholders, Logintrade (WSE:LGT) shares are down a considerable 39% in the last month. The stock has been solid, longer term, gaining 33% in the last year.
Assuming nothing else has changed, a lower share price makes a stock more attractive to potential buyers. In the long term, share prices tend to follow earnings per share, but in the short term prices bounce around in response to short term factors (which are not always obvious). The implication here is that long term investors have an opportunity when expectations of a company are too low. Perhaps the simplest way to get a read on investors’ expectations of a business is to look at its Price to Earnings Ratio (PE Ratio). Investors have optimistic expectations of companies with higher P/E ratios, compared to companies with lower P/E ratios.
View our latest analysis for Logintrade
Does Logintrade Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?
Logintrade’s P/E of 5.69 indicates relatively low sentiment towards the stock. If you look at the image below, you can see Logintrade has a lower P/E than the average (13.2) in the online retail industry classification.
Its relatively low P/E ratio indicates that Logintrade shareholders think it will struggle to do as well as other companies in its industry classification. While current expectations are low, the stock could be undervalued if the situation is better than the market assumes. You should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.
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. When earnings grow, the ‘E’ increases, over time. 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.
It’s great to see that Logintrade grew EPS by 24% in the last year. And it has bolstered its earnings per share by 89% per year over the last five years. So one might expect an above average P/E ratio.
Don’t Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits
It’s important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. So it won’t reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. The exact same company would hypothetically deserve a higher P/E ratio if it had a strong balance sheet, than if it had a weak one with lots of debt, because a cashed up company can spend on growth.
Such expenditure might be good or bad, in the long term, but the point here is that the balance sheet is not reflected by this ratio.
How Does Logintrade’s Debt Impact Its P/E Ratio?
Net debt is 40% of Logintrade’s market cap. While that’s enough to warrant consideration, it doesn’t really concern us.
The Verdict On Logintrade’s P/E Ratio
Logintrade’s P/E is 5.7 which is below average (8.5) in the PL market. The company does have a little debt, and EPS growth was good last year. The low P/E ratio suggests current market expectations are muted, implying these levels of growth will not continue. Given Logintrade’s P/E ratio has declined from 9.4 to 5.7 in the last month, we know for sure that the market is more worried about the business today, than it was back then. For those who prefer invest in growth, this stock apparently offers limited promise, but the deep value investors may find the pessimism around this stock enticing.
Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. If the reality for a company is not as bad as the P/E ratio indicates, then the share price should increase as the market realizes this. We don’t have analyst forecasts, but you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.
But note: Logintrade may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20).
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.
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