Session 12: Equity Investments: Valuation Models Reading 42: Market-Based Valuation: Price and Enterprise Value Multiples
LOS f: Describe, calculate, and interpret underlying earnings, given earnings per share (EPS) and nonrecurring items in the income statement.
Alpha Software (AS) recently reported a representative annual earnings per share (EPS) of $1.75, which included an extraordinary loss of $0.19 and an expense of $0.10 related to acquisition costs during the accounting period, neither of which are expected to recur. Given that the most recent share price is $65.00, what is a useful AS’s trailing price to earnings (P/E) for valuation purposes?
Using an underlying earnings concept, an analyst would add back the temporary charges against earnings: $1.75 + $0.19 + $0.10 = $2.04. The resulting trailing P/E = 65.00 / 2.04 = 31.86. |