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The Price Is Right For Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD)

When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 13x, you may consider Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 32.7x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Advanced Micro Devices 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.

See our latest analysis for Advanced Micro Devices

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If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Advanced Micro Devices.

How Is Advanced Micro Devices' Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Advanced Micro Devices would need to produce outstanding growth well in excess of the market.

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If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 19%. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 945% overall rise in EPS, in spite of its unsatisfying short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a very good job of growing earnings over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 31% each year during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 9.6% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's understandable that Advanced Micro Devices' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Bottom Line On Advanced Micro Devices' 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 Advanced Micro Devices' analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Advanced Micro Devices, and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20x).

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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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