SSE plc's (LON:SSE) P/E Still Appears To Be Reasonable

When close to half the companies in the United Kingdom have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 15x, you may consider SSE plc (LON:SSE) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 31.1x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/E.

Recent times haven't been advantageous for SSE as its earnings have been falling quicker than most other companies. It might be that many expect the dismal earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be very nervous about the viability of the share price.

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Does Growth Match The High P/E?

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

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 44%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 45% in aggregate. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 46% per annum during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 14% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why SSE is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

The Final Word

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 SSE 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. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

It is also worth noting that we have found 4 warning signs for SSE that you need to take into consideration.

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