Exxon Mobil Corporation's (NYSE:XOM) Price In Tune With Earnings

With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 20.6x Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) may be sending bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios under 17x and even P/E's lower than 9x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be high 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, Exxon Mobil has been very sluggish. It might be that many expect the dismal earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be very nervous about the viability of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Exxon Mobil

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Is There Enough Growth For Exxon Mobil?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as high as Exxon Mobil's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market.

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 59%. This means it has also seen a slide in earnings over the longer-term as EPS is down 40% in total over the last three years. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 21% each year as estimated by the analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 13% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Exxon Mobil's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Key Takeaway

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.

We've established that Exxon Mobil maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. 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.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider and we've discovered 4 warning signs for Exxon Mobil (1 is potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you're unsure about the strength of Exxon Mobil's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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