Croda International Plc's (LON:CRDA) Popularity With Investors Is Clear

With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 27.2x Croda International Plc (LON:CRDA) may be sending very bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United Kingdom have P/E ratios under 16x and even P/E's lower than 10x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/E.

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While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, Croda International's earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think this poor earnings performance will turn the corner. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

View our latest analysis for Croda International

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Does Growth Match The High P/E?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 14% decrease to the company's bottom line. This means it has also seen a slide in earnings over the longer-term as EPS is down 80% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 22% per annum during the coming three years according to the twelve analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 15% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Croda International is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Key Takeaway

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.

We've established that Croda International maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 1 warning sign for Croda International that you need to be mindful of.

If you're unsure about the strength of Croda International's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.