Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) share price has dived 30% in the last thirty days. The recent drop has obliterated the annual return, with the share price now down 18% over that longer period.
Assuming nothing else has changed, a lower share price makes a stock more attractive to potential buyers. While the market sentiment towards a stock is very changeable, in the long run, the share price will tend to move in the same direction as earnings per share. So, on certain occasions, long term focussed investors try to take advantage of pessimistic expectations to buy shares at a better price. Perhaps the simplest way to get a read on investors’ expectations of a business is to look at its Price to Earnings Ratio (PE Ratio). A high P/E ratio means that investors have a high expectation about future growth, while a low P/E ratio means they have low expectations about future growth.
See our latest analysis for Martin Marietta Materials
How Does Martin Marietta Materials’s P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?
We can tell from its P/E ratio of 17.34 that there is some investor optimism about Martin Marietta Materials. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (14.1) for companies in the basic materials industry is lower than Martin Marietta Materials’s P/E.
Its relatively high P/E ratio indicates that Martin Marietta Materials shareholders think it will perform better than other companies in its industry classification. Clearly the market expects growth, but it isn’t guaranteed. So investors should delve deeper. I like to check if company insiders have been buying or selling.
How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios
P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. When earnings grow, the ‘E’ increases, over time. That means even if the current P/E is high, it will reduce over time if the share price stays flat. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others — and that may attract buyers.
Notably, Martin Marietta Materials grew EPS by a whopping 31% in the last year. And it has bolstered its earnings per share by 29% per year over the last five years. So we’d generally expect it to have a relatively high P/E ratio.
Remember: P/E Ratios Don’t Consider The Balance Sheet
Don’t forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. That means it doesn’t take debt or cash into account. The exact same company would hypothetically deserve a higher P/E ratio if it had a strong balance sheet, than if it had a weak one with lots of debt, because a cashed up company can spend on growth.
While growth expenditure doesn’t always pay off, the point is that it is a good option to have; but one that the P/E ratio ignores.
Is Debt Impacting Martin Marietta Materials’s P/E?
Martin Marietta Materials’s net debt equates to 26% of its market capitalization. While that’s enough to warrant consideration, it doesn’t really concern us.
The Verdict On Martin Marietta Materials’s P/E Ratio
Martin Marietta Materials trades on a P/E ratio of 17.3, which is above its market average of 12.4. Its debt levels do not imperil its balance sheet and its EPS growth is very healthy indeed. So to be frank we are not surprised it has a high P/E ratio. Given Martin Marietta Materials’s P/E ratio has declined from 24.9 to 17.3 in the last month, we know for sure that the market is significantly less confident about the business today, than it was back then. For those who don’t like to trade against momentum, that could be a warning sign, but a contrarian investor might want to take a closer look.
Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. As value investor Benjamin Graham famously said, ‘In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine. So this free visual report on analyst forecasts could hold the key to an excellent investment decision.
But note: Martin Marietta Materials may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20).
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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