Yahoo Finance Should You Be Tempted To Sell STMicroelectronics NV. (NYSE:STM) At Its Current PE Ratio?
STMicroelectronics NV. (NYSE:STM) is currently trading at a trailing P/E of 60.4x, which is higher than the industry average of 24.3x. While this makes STM appear like a stock to avoid or sell if you own it, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. Today, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it. View our latest analysis for STMicroelectronics
Breaking down the Price-Earnings ratio
P/E is a popular ratio used for relative valuation. It compares a stock’s price per share to the stock’s earnings per share. A more intuitive way of understanding the P/E ratio is to think of it as how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for STM
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
STM Price-Earnings Ratio = $23.74 ÷ $0.393 = 60.4x
On its own, the P/E ratio doesn’t tell you much; however, it becomes extremely useful when you compare it with other similar companies. We want to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar characteristics as STM, such as size and country of operation. One way of gathering a peer group is to use firms in the same industry, which is what I’ll do. STM’s P/E of 60.4x is higher than its industry peers (24.3x), which implies that each dollar of STM’s earnings is being overvalued by investors. As such, our analysis shows that STM represents an over-priced stock.
Assumptions to be aware of
However, before you rush out to sell your STM shares, it is important to note that this conclusion is based on two key assumptions. The first is that our “similar companies” are actually similar to STM, or else the difference in P/E might be a result of other factors. For example, if you are comparing lower risk firms with STM, then its P/E would naturally be lower than its peers, as investors would value those with lower risk at a higher price. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing STM to are fairly valued by the market. If this does not hold true, STM’s lower P/E ratio may be because firms in our peer group are overvalued by the market.
What this means for you:
You may have already conducted fundamental analysis on the stock as a shareholder, so its current overvaluation could signal a potential selling opportunity to reduce your exposure to STM. 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 highly recommend you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for STM’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for STM’s outlook.
Past Track Record: Has STM 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 STM’s historicals for more clarity.
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.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.
