What Brady Corporation's (NYSE:BRC) P/E Is Not Telling You

Simply Wall St · 10/17 10:09

With a median price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of close to 19x in the United States, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Brady Corporation's (NYSE:BRC) P/E ratio of 18.4x. While this might not raise any eyebrows, if the P/E ratio is not justified investors could be missing out on a potential opportunity or ignoring looming disappointment.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, Brady has been doing quite well of late. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to deteriorate like the rest, which has kept the P/E from rising. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Brady

pe-multiple-vs-industry
NYSE:BRC Price to Earnings Ratio vs Industry October 17th 2024
Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on Brady will help you uncover what's on the horizon.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should be matching the market for P/E ratios like Brady's to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 16% last year. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 67% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 8.1% as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 15% growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's curious that Brady's P/E sits in line with the majority of other companies. Apparently many investors in the company are less bearish than analysts indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock right now. These shareholders may be setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/E falls to levels more in line with the growth outlook.

The Final Word

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

We've established that Brady currently trades on a higher than expected P/E since its forecast growth is lower than the wider market. When we see a weak earnings outlook with slower than market growth, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the moderate P/E lower. Unless these conditions improve, it's challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Brady that you should be aware of.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.