Price to Earnings or P/E Ratio?

Definition: The price/earnings ratio (P/E) is a way to show how a company’s earnings relate to the stock price. The P/E is calculated by dividing the current price of the stock by the annual earnings per share. The higher the P/E the more earnings growth investors are expecting and the higher premium they are willing to pay for that anticipated growth.

A price to earnings ratio, otherwise known as a P/E ratio, is a quick calculation used to evaluate how expensive, or cheap, the stock market may be at any given time. Just as an appraiser can come out and give you an estimate of the value of your home, the P/E ratio is a tool you can use to estimate the fair value of the stock market.

How Is A P/E Ratio Calculated?

In simple terms, a P/E ratio is the price (P) divided by earnings (E). A stock with a price of $10 a share, and earnings last year of $1 a share, would have a P/E ratio of 10.

In more complex terms, you have to decide whether to look at P/E ratios based on last year’s earnings, forecasted earnings, or a ten year average of earnings. In addition, P/E ratios for an individual stock must be interpreted much differently than P/E ratios for the market as a whole.