With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 30.1x Enerpac Tool Group Corp. (NYSE:EPAC) may be sending very bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios under 16x and even P/E's lower than 9x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Enerpac Tool Group certainly has been doing a good job lately as its earnings growth has been positive while most other companies have been seeing their earnings go backwards. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Enerpac Tool Group

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far outperform the market for P/E ratios like Enerpac Tool Group's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 188% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 965% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 47% as estimated by the lone analyst watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 10%, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why Enerpac Tool 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.

The Bottom Line On Enerpac Tool Group's P/E

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

As we suspected, our examination of Enerpac Tool 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. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Enerpac Tool Group that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.

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