Risks To Shareholder Returns Are Elevated At These Prices For IntegraFin Holdings plc (LON:IHP)

IntegraFin Holdings plc's (LON:IHP) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 18.6x might make it look like a sell right now compared to the market in the United Kingdom, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 14x and even P/E's below 8x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the elevated P/E.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, IntegraFin Holdings has been doing quite well of late. The P/E is probably high because investors think the company will continue to navigate the broader market headwinds better than most. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

See our latest analysis for IntegraFin Holdings

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

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like IntegraFin Holdings' to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 13% gain to the company's bottom line. The solid recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 9.7% in total over the last three years. 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 eleven analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 5.8% per year over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 11% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we find it concerning that IntegraFin Holdings is trading at a P/E higher than the market. It seems most investors are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects, but the analyst cohort is not so confident this will happen. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as this level of earnings growth is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Bottom Line On IntegraFin Holdings' P/E

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 IntegraFin Holdings currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its forecast growth is lower than the wider market. Right now we are increasingly uncomfortable with the high P/E as the predicted future earnings aren't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. This places shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 1 warning sign for IntegraFin Holdings that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than IntegraFin Holdings. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.