Does San Juan Basin Royalty Trust's (NYSE:SJT) PE Ratio Signal A Buying Opportunity?

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE:SJT) trades with a trailing P/E of 11.7x, which is lower than the industry average of 14.9x. While SJT might seem like an attractive stock to buy, it is important to understand the assumptions behind the P/E ratio before you make any investment decisions. Today, I will deconstruct the P/E ratio and highlight what you need to be careful of when using the P/E ratio. See our latest analysis for San Juan Basin Royalty Trust

What you need to know about the P/E ratio

P/E is often used for relative valuation since earnings power is a chief driver of investment value. By comparing a stock’s price per share to its earnings per share, we are able to see how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.

The P/E ratio itself doesn’t tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful when you compare it with other similar companies. We preferably want to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar features to SJT, such as capital structure and profitability. A common peer group is companies that exist in the same industry, which is what I use below. Since it is expected that similar companies have similar P/E ratios, we can come to some conclusions about the stock if the ratios are different.

SJT’s P/E of 11.7x is lower than its industry peers (14.9x), which implies that each dollar of SJT’s earnings is being undervalued by investors. Therefore, according to this analysis, SJT is an under-priced stock.

Assumptions to watch out for

However, before you rush out to buy SJT, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on two key assumptions. The first is that our peer group actually contains companies that are similar to SJT. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to some other factors. For example, if you inadvertently compared lower risk firms with SJT, then investors would naturally value SJT at a lower price since it is a riskier investment. Similarly, if you accidentally compared higher growth firms with SJT, investors would also value SJT at a lower price since it is a lower growth investment. Both scenarios would explain why SJT has a lower P/E ratio than its peers. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing SJT to are fairly valued by the market. If this assumption is violated, SJT's P/E may be lower than its peers because its peers are actually overvalued by investors.

What this means for you:

You may have already conducted fundamental analysis on the stock as a shareholder, so its current undervaluation could signal a good buying opportunity to increase your exposure to SJT. Now that you understand the ins and outs of the PE metric, you should know to bear in mind its limitations before you make an investment decision. Remember that basing your investment decision off one metric alone is certainly not sufficient. There are many things I have not taken into account in this article and the PE ratio is very one-dimensional. If you have not done so already, I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:

• 1. Financial Health: Is SJT’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
• 2. Past Track Record: Has SJT been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of SJT's historicals for more clarity.
• 3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.