Cato Corporation PE Value

About PE Value (Pro)

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This valuation method corrects for any recent price appreciations for discounts by assuming that the value of the company will be in line with its historical valuations based on PE ratios. It will show companies that have recently increased in price, without an accompanying increase in earnings, to be overvalued, and it will show companies with a recent decrease in price, without an accompanying decrease in earnings, to be undervalued.

This method is most difficult to trust with growth stocks. Some of these companies trade at PE multiples of more than 35 for many years as they experience their growth. However, multiples of 35+ are rare (as of August 30, 2010 only 12.5% of companies had a 5 year average PE greater than 35), and since there is no sure way to know when a company's growth will slow, we apply a maximum PE ratio of 35 to companies. This helps to ensure that investors do not purchase companies under the intuition (based on history) that a stock's "reasonable" PE ratio is 35+ over the long term. If an investor wants to apply that PE ratio consciously based on special information, they may do so, but there should be sound reason.
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