Yahoo Finance APA Corporation's (NASDAQ:APA) Business And Shares Still Trailing The Market
APA Corporation's (NASDAQ:APA) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3.6x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 16x and even P/E's above 31x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.
Recent times have been advantageous for APA as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
View our latest analysis for APA
Keen to find out how analysts think APA's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.
What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?
There's an inherent assumption that a company should far underperform the market for P/E ratios like APA's to be considered reasonable.
If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 359%. Although, its longer-term performance hasn't been as strong with three-year EPS growth being relatively non-existent overall. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.
Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 2.0% per annum during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 9.7% growth per year, the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.
With this information, we can see why APA is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.
What We Can Learn From APA's P/E?
Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.
As we suspected, our examination of APA's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.
Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 2 warning signs for APA (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of.
You might be able to find a better investment than APA. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20x (but have proven they can grow earnings).
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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.
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