What Does Pacific Millennium Packaging Group Corporation's (HKG:1820) P/E Ratio Tell You?

The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). We'll show how you can use Pacific Millennium Packaging Group Corporation's (HKG:1820) P/E ratio to inform your assessment of the investment opportunity. What is Pacific Millennium Packaging Group's P/E ratio? Well, based on the last twelve months it is 16.47. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 6.1%.

See our latest analysis for Pacific Millennium Packaging Group

How Do You Calculate A P/E Ratio?

The formula for price to earnings is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Price per Share (in the reporting currency) ÷ Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for Pacific Millennium Packaging Group:

P/E of 16.47 = CN¥4.174 ÷ CN¥0.253 (Based on the year to December 2019.)

(Note: the above calculation uses the share price in the reporting currency, namely CNY and the calculation results may not be precise due to rounding.)

Is A High P/E Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio means that buyers have to pay a higher price for each CN¥1 the company has earned over the last year. That is not a good or a bad thing per se, but a high P/E does imply buyers are optimistic about the future.

Does Pacific Millennium Packaging Group Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry?

One good way to get a quick read on what market participants expect of a company is to look at its P/E ratio. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (12.2) for companies in the packaging industry is lower than Pacific Millennium Packaging Group's P/E.

That means that the market expects Pacific Millennium Packaging Group will outperform other companies in its industry. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn't guarantee future growth. So investors should always consider the P/E ratio alongside other factors, such as whether company directors have been buying shares.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

Probably the most important factor in determining what P/E a company trades on is the earnings growth. When earnings grow, the 'E' increases, over time. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others -- and that may attract buyers.

Pacific Millennium Packaging Group shrunk earnings per share by 36% over the last year. But it has grown its earnings per share by 14% per year over the last five years.

A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank

Don't forget that the P/E ratio considers market capitalization. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth.

Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.

Is Debt Impacting Pacific Millennium Packaging Group's P/E?

Pacific Millennium Packaging Group has net debt worth just 2.1% of its market capitalization. It would probably trade on a higher P/E ratio if it had a lot of cash, but I doubt it is having a big impact.

The Verdict On Pacific Millennium Packaging Group's P/E Ratio

Pacific Millennium Packaging Group's P/E is 16.5 which is above average (9.0) in its market. With some debt but no EPS growth last year, the market has high expectations of future profits.

Investors have an opportunity when market expectations about a stock are wrong. People often underestimate remarkable growth -- so investors can make money when fast growth is not fully appreciated. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Of course you might be able to find a better stock than Pacific Millennium Packaging Group. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.