Chesapeake Utilities Corporation's (NYSE:CPK) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 26.6x 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 17x 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 Chesapeake Utilities as its earnings have been falling quicker than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think the company will turn things around completely and accelerate past most others in the market. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

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

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

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 3.2%. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 3.8% overall. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 13% per year during the coming three years according to the five analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Chesapeake Utilities 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 Final Word

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

As we suspected, our examination of Chesapeake Utilities' 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.

It is also worth noting that we have found 4 warning signs for Chesapeake Utilities (1 is potentially serious!) that you need to take into consideration.

If you're unsure about the strength of Chesapeake Utilities' 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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