With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 6.5x J.Jill, Inc. (NYSE:JILL) may be sending very bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios greater than 18x and even P/E's higher than 33x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.
With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, J.Jill has been doing quite well of late. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, possibly more than the market, which has repressed the P/E. 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.
Is There Any Growth For J.Jill?
The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as depressed as J.Jill's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market decidedly.
If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 48%. Still, EPS has barely risen at all from three years ago in total, which is not ideal. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.
Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 3.5% per annum as estimated by the six analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 10% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.
In light of this, it's understandable that J.Jill's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.
The Final Word
Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.
We've established that J.Jill maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.
It is also worth noting that we have found 3 warning signs for J.Jill that you need to take into consideration.
Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than J.Jill. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.
