Installed Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:IBP) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 25% gain in the last month alone. The annual gain comes to 106% following the latest surge, making investors sit up and take notice.

Since its price has surged higher, given close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 16x, you may consider Installed Building Products as a stock to avoid entirely with its 27.1x 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 so lofty.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, Installed Building Products has been doing quite well of late. It seems that many are expecting the company to continue defying the broader market adversity, 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 Installed Building Products' Growth Trending?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as steep as Installed Building Products' is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market decidedly.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 11%. This was backed up an excellent period prior to see EPS up by 162% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the eleven analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 17% over the next year. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 13%, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why Installed Building Products is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

What We Can Learn From Installed Building Products' P/E?

The strong share price surge has got Installed Building Products' P/E rushing to great heights as well. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Installed Building Products' analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Installed Building Products that you should be aware of.

You might be able to find a better investment than Installed Building Products. 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.