Despite an already strong run, Select Water Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:WTTR) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 27% in the last thirty days. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 98% in the last year.

After such a large jump in price, Select Water Solutions' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 24.5x 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 11x are quite common. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Select Water Solutions certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to persist, which has raised the P/E. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

How Is Select Water Solutions' Growth Trending?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 11%. Still, EPS has barely risen at all in aggregate from three years ago, which is not ideal. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the five analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 31% over the next year. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 15%, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why Select Water Solutions is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Bottom Line On Select Water Solutions' P/E

The large bounce in Select Water Solutions' shares has lifted the company's P/E to a fairly high level. 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 Select Water Solutions' 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. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Select Water Solutions that you should be aware of.

You might be able to find a better investment than Select Water Solutions. 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.