With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 13x Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE:UHS) 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 19x and even P/E's higher than 35x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

Universal Health Services certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more than most other companies. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

How Is Universal Health Services' Growth Trending?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 59% last year. As a result, it also grew EPS by 23% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has actually done a good job of growing earnings over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 14% as estimated by the analysts watching the company. With the market predicted to deliver 15% growth , the company is positioned for a comparable earnings result.

With this information, we find it odd that Universal Health Services is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Final Word

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.

We've established that Universal Health Services currently trades on a lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is in line with the wider market. When we see an average earnings outlook with market-like growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. It appears some are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide more support to the share price.

Having said that, be aware Universal Health Services is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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