Yahoo Movies Is QCR Holdings Inc’s (NASDAQ:QCRH) PE Ratio A Signal To Buy For Investors?
I am writing today to help inform people who are new to the stock market and want to begin learning about how to value company based on its current earnings and what are the drawbacks of this method.
QCR Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:QCRH) trades with a trailing P/E of 14.3x, which is lower than the industry average of 17.9x. While this makes QCRH appear like a great stock to buy, you might change your mind after I explain the assumptions behind the P/E ratio. In this article, I will explain what the P/E ratio is as well as what you should look out for when using it.
View our latest analysis for QCR Holdings
Breaking down the P/E ratio
P/E is often used for relative valuation since earnings power is a chief driver of investment value. By comparing a stock’s price per share to its earnings per share, we are able to see how much investors are paying for each dollar of the company’s earnings.
P/E Calculation for QCRH
Price-Earnings Ratio = Price per share ÷ Earnings per share
QCRH Price-Earnings Ratio = $40.37 ÷ $2.828 = 14.3x
The P/E ratio itself doesn’t tell you a lot; however, it becomes very insightful when you compare it with other similar companies. We want to compare the stock’s P/E ratio to the average of companies that have similar characteristics as QCRH, such as size and country of operation. A common peer group is companies that exist in the same industry, which is what I use. Since QCRH’s P/E of 14.3 is lower than its industry peers (17.9), it means that investors are paying less for each dollar of QCRH’s earnings. This multiple is a median of profitable companies of 25 Banks companies in US including Great Basin Financial, CIB Marine Bancshares and Citizens Commerce Bancshares. One could put it like this: the market is pricing QCRH as if it is a weaker company than the average company in its industry.
A few caveats
Before you jump to conclusions it is important to realise that our assumptions rests on two assertions. Firstly, our peer group contains companies that are similar to QCRH. If this isn’t the case, the difference in P/E could be due to other factors. For example, if you compared lower risk firms with QCRH, then investors would naturally value it at a lower price since it is a riskier investment. The second assumption that must hold true is that the stocks we are comparing QCRH to are fairly valued by the market. If this does not hold true, QCRH’s lower P/E ratio may be because firms in our peer group are overvalued by the market.
What this means for you:
You may have already conducted fundamental analysis on the stock as a shareholder, so its current undervaluation could signal a good buying opportunity to increase your exposure to QCRH. Now that you understand the ins and outs of the PE metric, you should know to bear in mind its limitations before you make an investment decision. Remember that basing your investment decision off one metric alone is certainly not sufficient. There are many things I have not taken into account in this article and the PE ratio is very one-dimensional. If you have not done so already, I urge you to complete your research by taking a look at the following:
Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for QCRH’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for QCRH’s outlook.
Past Track Record: Has QCRH been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of QCRH’s historicals for more clarity.
Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
