Does Highlight Event and Entertainment AG's (VTX:HLEE) PE Ratio Signal A Buying Opportunity?

I am writing today to help inform people who are new to the stock market and want to learn about the link between company’s fundamentals and stock market performance.

Highlight Event and Entertainment AG (VTX:HLEE) is trading with a trailing P/E of 11, which is lower than the industry average of 15.3. Although some investors might think this is a real positive, that might change once you understand the assumptions behind the P/E. Today, I will break down what the P/E ratio is, how to interpret it and what to watch out for.

View our latest analysis for Highlight Event and Entertainment

Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio

A common ratio used for relative valuation is the P/E ratio. It compares a stock’s price per share to the stock’s earnings per share. A more intuitive way of understanding the P/E ratio is to think of it as how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.

On its own, the P/E ratio doesn’t tell you much; however, it becomes extremely useful when you compare it with other similar companies. Ideally, we want to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar characteristics as HLEE, such as size and country of operation. A quick method of creating a peer group is to use companies in the same industry, which is what I will do. Since it is expected that similar companies have similar P/E ratios, we can come to some conclusions about the stock if the ratios are different.

Since HLEE's P/E of 11 is lower than its industry peers (15.3), it means that investors are paying less for each dollar of HLEE's earnings. Since the Media sector in CH is relatively small, I’ve included similar companies in the wider region in order to get a better idea of the multiple, which is a median of profitable companies of companies such as Tamedia, Goldbach Group and APG|SGA. You can think of it like this: the market is suggesting that HLEE is a weaker business than the average comparable company.

Assumptions to be aware of

However, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on two key assumptions. The first is that our peer group actually contains companies that are similar to HLEE. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to some other factors. For example, if you inadvertently compared lower risk firms with HLEE, then investors would naturally value HLEE at a lower price since it is a riskier investment. Similarly, if you accidentally compared higher growth firms with HLEE, investors would also value HLEE at a lower price since it is a lower growth investment. Both scenarios would explain why HLEE has a lower P/E ratio than its peers. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing HLEE to are fairly valued by the market. If this assumption does not hold true, HLEE’s lower P/E ratio may be because firms in our peer group are being overvalued by the market.

What this means for you:

If your personal research into the stock confirms what the P/E ratio is telling you, it might be a good time to add more of HLEE to your portfolio. But keep in mind that the usefulness of relative valuation depends on whether you are comfortable with making the assumptions I mentioned above. Remember that basing your investment decision off one metric alone is certainly not sufficient. There are many things I have not taken into account in this article and the PE ratio is very one-dimensional. If you have not done so already, I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

1. Financial Health: Are HLEE’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
2. Past Track Record: Has HLEE been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of HLEE's historicals for more clarity.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.