InPost S.A.'s (AMS:INPST) Share Price Matching Investor Opinion

When close to half the companies in the Netherlands have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 16x, you may consider InPost S.A. (AMS:INPST) as a stock to potentially avoid with its 24.2x P/E ratio. 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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InPost could be doing better as its earnings have been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive earnings growth. It might be that many expect the dour earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be extremely nervous about the viability of the share price.

View our latest analysis for InPost

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

How Is InPost's Growth Trending?

InPost's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver solid growth, and importantly, perform better than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 10%. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 49% overall rise in EPS, in spite of its unsatisfying short-term performance. Accordingly, while they would have preferred to keep the run going, shareholders would probably welcome the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the twelve analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 46% per year over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 14% per year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why InPost 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

We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that InPost 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.

Plus, you should also learn about these 2 warning signs we've spotted with InPost.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on InPost, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.