When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 16x, you may consider F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) as a stock to potentially avoid with its 24x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times have been pleasing for F5 as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. The P/E is probably high because investors think the company will continue to navigate the broader market headwinds better than most. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

How Is F5's Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, F5 would need to produce impressive growth in excess of the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 54%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 61% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 15% each year as estimated by the analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 10% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's understandable that F5's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

What We Can Learn From F5's P/E?

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

We've established that F5 maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Many other vital risk factors can be found on the company's balance sheet. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for F5 with six simple checks on some of these key factors.

You might be able to find a better investment than F5. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.