Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd.'s (TSE:4151) 26% Price Boost Is Out Of Tune With Earnings

Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (TSE:4151) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 26% share price jump in the last month. While recent buyers may be laughing, long-term holders might not be as pleased since the recent gain only brings the stock back to where it started a year ago.

After such a large jump in price, Kyowa Kirin may be sending bearish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 19.5x, since almost half of all companies in Japan have P/E ratios under 14x and even P/E's lower than 9x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Kyowa Kirin has been doing relatively well. 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.

See our latest analysis for Kyowa Kirin

Keen to find out how analysts think Kyowa Kirin's 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 Kyowa Kirin's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 52% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 72% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 1.5% per year as estimated by the eleven analysts watching the company. With the market predicted to deliver 9.9% growth per year, the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

In light of this, it's alarming that Kyowa Kirin's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than analysts indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. There's a good chance these shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/E falls to levels more in line with the growth outlook.

What We Can Learn From Kyowa Kirin's P/E?

The large bounce in Kyowa Kirin's shares has lifted the company's P/E to a fairly high level. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

Our examination of Kyowa Kirin's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook isn't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. 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.

Plus, you should also learn about this 1 warning sign we've spotted with Kyowa Kirin.

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