Healthcare Services Group, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:HCSG) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 25.8x might make it look like a sell right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 18x and even P/E's below 10x are quite common. 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.

Recent times haven't been advantageous for Healthcare Services Group as its earnings have been falling quicker than most other companies. It might be that many expect the dismal earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be very nervous about the viability of the share price.

Is There Enough Growth For Healthcare Services Group?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 11% decrease to the company's bottom line. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 64% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 30% each year as estimated by the five analysts watching the company. With the market only predicted to deliver 10% each year, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

With this information, we can see why Healthcare Services Group 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 Healthcare Services Group's P/E?

We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

As we suspected, our examination of Healthcare Services Group's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Many other vital risk factors can be found on the company's balance sheet. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Healthcare Services Group with six simple checks.

If you're unsure about the strength of Healthcare Services Group's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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