Earnings Tell The Story For Pan African Resources PLC (LON:PAF)

Pan African Resources PLC's (LON:PAF) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 18.8x 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 16x and even P/E's below 10x are quite common. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

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Pan African Resources certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to persist, which has raised the P/E. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Pan African Resources

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

How Is Pan African Resources' Growth Trending?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 15%. Still, EPS has barely risen at all in aggregate from three years ago, which is not ideal. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 50% per annum as estimated by the five analysts watching the company. With the market only predicted to deliver 15% per year, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

In light of this, it's understandable that Pan African Resources' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more 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 Pan African Resources maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Plus, you should also learn about these 3 warning signs we've spotted with Pan African Resources (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored).

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.