When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 16x, you may consider Full Truck Alliance Co. Ltd. (NYSE:YMM) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 26x 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.

Recent times have been pleasing for Full Truck Alliance as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. 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.

Is There Enough Growth For Full Truck Alliance?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Full Truck Alliance would need to produce outstanding growth well in excess of the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 141% gain to the company's bottom line. Although, its longer-term performance hasn't been as strong with three-year EPS growth being relatively non-existent overall. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the twelve analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 31% per annum over the next three years. With the market only predicted to deliver 10% per annum, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

In light of this, it's understandable that Full Truck Alliance's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Final Word

Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

We've established that Full Truck Alliance maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, 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 these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Having said that, be aware Full Truck Alliance is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Full Truck Alliance. 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com