There Is A Reason ATCO Ltd.'s (TSE:ACO.X) Price Is Undemanding

When close to half the companies in Canada have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may consider ATCO Ltd. (TSE:ACO.X) as an attractive investment with its 13.1x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

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ATCO certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more than most other companies. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

See our latest analysis for ATCO

Keen to find out how analysts think ATCO's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Is There Any Growth For ATCO?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, ATCO would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 14% last year. The latest three year period has also seen a 21% overall rise in EPS, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has actually done a good job of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the four analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 6.4% per annum over the next three years. With the market predicted to deliver 12% growth per year, the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

With this information, we can see why ATCO is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Key Takeaway

Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

We've established that ATCO maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with ATCO, and understanding should be part of your investment process.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on ATCO, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.