Warpaint London PLC's (LON:W7L) P/E Is Still On The Mark Following 27% Share Price Bounce

Despite an already strong run, Warpaint London PLC (LON:W7L) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 27% in the last thirty days. The annual gain comes to 135% following the latest surge, making investors sit up and take notice.

Since its price has surged higher, Warpaint London may be sending very bearish signals at the moment with a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 35.7x, since almost half of all companies in the United Kingdom have P/E ratios under 16x and even P/E's lower than 9x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.

Recent times have been advantageous for Warpaint London as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to persist, which has raised the P/E. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

See our latest analysis for Warpaint London

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What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Warpaint London would need to produce outstanding growth well in excess of the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 122% gain to the company's bottom line. Still, EPS has barely risen at all from three years ago in total, which is not ideal. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 17% each year as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 15% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Warpaint London is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Final Word

The strong share price surge has got Warpaint London's P/E rushing to great heights as well. It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

We've established that Warpaint London maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Having said that, be aware Warpaint London is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Warpaint London. 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.

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