When close to half the companies in India have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 25x, you may consider Krishival Foods Limited (NSE:KRISHIVAL) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 58.1x 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.
Earnings have risen firmly for Krishival Foods recently, which is pleasing to see. It might be that many expect the respectable earnings performance to beat most other companies over the coming period, which has increased investors’ willingness to pay up for the stock. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.
Check out our latest analysis for Krishival Foods
Krishival Foods' P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the market.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 19% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 153% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.
This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 25% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.
In light of this, it's understandable that Krishival Foods' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong growth to continue and are willing to pay more for the stock.
We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.
We've established that Krishival Foods maintains its high P/E on the strength of its recent three-year growth being higher than the wider market forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident earnings aren't under threat. Unless the recent medium-term conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.
You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Krishival Foods you should be aware of.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.
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