Market Participants Recognise Zen Technologies Limited's (NSE:ZENTEC) Earnings

Zen Technologies Limited's (NSE:ZENTEC) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 70.9x might make it look like a strong sell right now compared to the market in India, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 28x and even P/E's below 15x are quite common. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Zen Technologies certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to beat most other companies over the coming period, which has increased investors’ willingness to pay up for the stock. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Zen Technologies

Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on Zen Technologies will help you shine a light on its historical performance.

How Is Zen Technologies' Growth Trending?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 327% last year. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 425% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 24% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we can see why Zen Technologies is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. Presumably shareholders aren't keen to offload something they believe will continue to outmanoeuvre the bourse.

The Key Takeaway

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 Zen Technologies maintains its high P/E on the strength of its recent three-year growth being higher than the wider market forecast, 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. If recent medium-term earnings trends continue, it's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Zen Technologies that you should be aware of.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.