Washington Gas Light Co (Washington Gas Light Co) PE Ratio : (As of May. 21, 2024)

Washington Gas Light Co PE Ratio Chart

Competitive Comparison of Washington Gas Light Co's PE Ratio

For the Utilities - Regulated Gas subindustry, Washington Gas Light Co's PE Ratio, along with its competitors' market caps and PE Ratio data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.

Washington Gas Light Co's PE Ratio Distribution in the Utilities - Regulated Industry

For the Utilities - Regulated industry and Utilities sector, Washington Gas Light Co's PE Ratio distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Washington Gas Light Co's PE Ratio falls into.

Washington Gas Light Co PE Ratio Calculation

The PE Ratio, or Price-to-Earnings ratio, or P/E Ratio, is a financial ratio used to compare a company's market price to its Earnings per Share (Diluted). It is the most widely used ratio in the valuation of stocks.

Washington Gas Light Co's PE Ratio for today is calculated as

It can also be calculated from the numbers for the whole company:

There are at least three kinds of PE Ratios used by different investors. They are Trailing Twelve Month PE Ratio, Forward PE Ratio, or PE Ratio without NRI. A new PE Ratio based on inflation-adjusted normalized PE Ratio is called Shiller PE Ratio, after Yale professor Robert Shiller.

In the calculation of PE Ratio, the earnings per share used are the earnings per share over the past 12 months. For Forward PE Ratio, the earnings are the expected earnings for the next twelve months. In the case of PE Ratio without NRI, the reported earnings less the non-recurring items are used.

For Shiller PE Ratio, the earnings of the past 10 years are inflation-adjusted and averaged. Since it looks at the average over the last 10 years, Shiller PE Ratio is also called PE10.

Washington Gas Light Co  (OTCPK:WGLCO.PFD) PE Ratio Explanation

The PE Ratio can be viewed as the number of years it takes for the company to earn back the price you pay for the stock. For example, if a company earns $2 a share per year, and the stock is traded at $30, the PE Ratio is 15. Therefore it takes 15 years for the company to earn back the $30 you paid for its stock, assuming the earnings stays constant over the next 15 years.

In real business, earnings never stay constant. If a company can grow its earnings, it takes fewer years for the company to earn back the price you pay for the stock. If a company's earnings decline it takes more years. As a shareholder, you want the company to earn back the price you pay as soon as possible. Therefore, lower P/E stocks are more attractive than higher P/E stocks so long as the PE Ratio is positive. Also for stocks with the same PE Ratio, the one with faster growth business is more attractive.

If a company loses money, the PE Ratio becomes meaningless.

To compare stocks with different growth rates, Peter Lynch invented a ratio called PEG Ratio. PEG Ratio is defined as the PE Ratio divided by the growth ratio. He thinks a company with a PE Ratio equal to its growth rate is fairly valued. Still he said he would rather buy a company growing 20% a year with a PE Ratio of 20, instead of a company growing 10% a year with a PE Ratio of 10.

Because the PE Ratio measures how long it takes to earn back the price you pay, the PE Ratio can be applied to the stocks across different industries. That is why it is the one of the most important and widely used indicators for the valuation of stocks.

Similar to the PE Ratio without NRI or PS Ratio or Price-to-Operating-Cash-Flow or Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow , the PE Ratio measures the valuation based on the earning power of the company. This is where it is different from the PB Ratio , which measures the valuation based on the company's balance sheet.

Be Aware

Investors need to be aware that the PE Ratio can be misleading a lot of times, especially when the underlying business is cyclical and unpredictable. As Peter Lynch pointed out, cyclical businesses have higher profit margins at the peaks of the business cycles. Their earnings are high and PE Ratios are artificially low. It is usually a bad idea to buy a cyclical business when the PE Ratio is low. A better ratio to identify the time to buy a cyclical businesses is the PS Ratio.

PE Ratio can also be affected by non-recurring-items such as the sale of part of businesses. This may increase for the current year or quarter dramatically. But it cannot be repeated over and over. Therefore PE Ratio without NRI is a more accurate indication of valuation than PE Ratio.

Washington Gas Light Co PE Ratio Related Terms

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Washington Gas Light Co (Washington Gas Light Co) Business Description