Fewer Investors Than Expected Jumping On Avation PLC (LON:AVAP)
When close to half the companies in the United Kingdom have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 18x, you may consider Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) as a highly attractive investment with its 2x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.
With earnings growth that's exceedingly strong of late, Avation has been doing very well. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually underperform the broader market in the near future. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.
See our latest analysis for Avation
We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Avation's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Is Avation's Growth Trending?
Avation's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.
If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 122%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 106% in total over the last three years. 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 2.8% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.
In light of this, it's peculiar that Avation's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It looks like most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.
The Bottom Line On Avation's P/E
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.
Our examination of Avation revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't contributing to its P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current market expectations. When we see strong earnings with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. At least price risks look to be very low if recent medium-term earnings trends continue, but investors seem to think future earnings could see a lot of volatility.
Plus, you should also learn about these 4 warning signs we've spotted with Avation (including 1 which is concerning).
If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Avation, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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