A Peek Into Abbot's Price Over Earnings Ratio

 

Looking into the current session, Abbott Laboratories Inc. ABT is trading at $90.55, after a 1.3% decrease. Over the past month, the stock fell by 5.69%, but over the past year, it actually increased by 19.51%. With questionable short-term performance like this, and great long-term performance, long-term shareholders might want to start looking into the company's price-to-earnings ratio.

Assuming that all other factors are held constant, this could present itself as an opportunity for shareholders trying to capitalize on the higher share price. The stock is currently below from its 52 week high by 9.45%.

The P/E ratio is used by long-term shareholders to assess the company’s market performance against aggregate market data, historical earnings, and the industry at large. A lower P/E indicates that shareholders do not expect the stock to perform better in the future, and that the company is probably undervalued. It shows that shareholders are less than willing to pay a high share price, because they do not expect the company to exhibit growth, in terms of future earnings.

Most often, an industry will prevail in a particular phase of a business cycle, than other industries.

Compared to the aggregate P/E ratio of the 120.07 in the medical devices industry, Abbott Laboratories has a lower P/E ratio of 46.35. Shareholders might be inclined to think that they might perform worse than its industry peers. It’s also possible that the stock is undervalued.

There are many limitations to price to earnings ratio. It is sometimes difficult to determine the nature of the earnings makeup of a company. Shareholders might not get what they're looking for, from trailing earnings.

Posted In: Intraday UpdateMarketsp/e ratio
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...