IES Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:IESC) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 29% gain in the last month alone. The annual gain comes to 191% following the latest surge, making investors sit up and take notice.

Following the firm bounce in price, given around half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 18x, you may consider IES Holdings as a stock to potentially avoid with its 23.8x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's as high as it is.

With earnings growth that's exceedingly strong of late, IES Holdings has been doing very well. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to beat most other companies over the coming period, which has increased investors' willingness to pay up for the stock. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

How Is IES Holdings' Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like IES Holdings' to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 136%. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 211% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 15% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's understandable that IES Holdings' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Presumably shareholders aren't keen to offload something they believe will continue to outmanoeuvre the bourse.

The Bottom Line On IES Holdings' P/E

IES Holdings' P/E is getting right up there since its shares have risen strongly. 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 IES Holdings maintains its high P/E on the strength of its recent three-year growth being higher than the wider market forecast, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for IES Holdings that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.

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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.