With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 8.7x Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE:VSH) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios greater than 17x and even P/E's higher than 32x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, Vishay Intertechnology has been very sluggish. It seems that many are expecting the dismal earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. You'd much rather the company wasn't bleeding earnings if you still believe in the business. Or at the very least, you'd be hoping the earnings slide doesn't get any worse if your plan is to pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

See our latest analysis for Vishay Intertechnology

How Is Vishay Intertechnology's Growth Trending?

Vishay Intertechnology's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 9.5%. Even so, admirably EPS has lifted 264% in aggregate from three years ago, notwithstanding the last 12 months. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a very good job of growing earnings over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to slump, contracting by 24% during the coming year according to the four analysts following the company. That's not great when the rest of the market is expected to grow by 10%.

In light of this, it's understandable that Vishay Intertechnology's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

What We Can Learn From Vishay Intertechnology's P/E?

While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

We've established that Vishay Intertechnology maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Plus, you should also learn about these 2 warning signs we've spotted with Vishay Intertechnology (including 1 which doesn't sit too well with us).

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Vishay Intertechnology, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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