Wick

The P/E ratio, plainly

Reading a Company

Years of earnings you're paying

Price divided by earnings per share. A P/E of 25 means you pay $25 for every $1 the company currently earns each year. High P/E means the market expects growth; low P/E means it expects trouble or dullness. It is a question, not an answer: what does this price assume, and is that assumption reasonable?

Check yourself

A high P/E tells you the market expects…

  1. The company to shrink
  2. Meaningful earnings growth ahead correct
  3. Nothing at all

It prices in a future. If that future arrives, the price was fair. If it does not, the fall is brutal.

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