With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 23.5x Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) may be sending bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios under 19x and even P/E's lower than 11x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the elevated P/E.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Acuity Brands has been doing relatively well. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to persist, which has raised the P/E. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

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How Is Acuity Brands' Growth Trending?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 26% last year. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 64% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 8.4% as estimated by the seven analysts watching the company. With the market predicted to deliver 15% growth , the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

In light of this, it's alarming that Acuity Brands' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects, but the analyst cohort is not so confident this will happen. There's a good chance these shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/E falls to levels more in line with the growth outlook.

What We Can Learn From Acuity Brands' P/E?

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.

Our examination of Acuity Brands' analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook isn't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. Right now we are increasingly uncomfortable with the high P/E as the predicted future earnings aren't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless these conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Acuity Brands that you should be aware of.

You might be able to find a better investment than Acuity Brands. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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