Carlisle Companies Incorporated's (NYSE:CSL) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 21.3x 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 19x and even P/E's below 11x are quite common. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Carlisle Companies 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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Does Growth Match The High P/E?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 41% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 209% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 9.7% as estimated by the seven analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 15%, which is noticeably more attractive.

In light of this, it's alarming that Carlisle Companies' 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. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as this level of earnings growth is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Final Word

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

Our examination of Carlisle Companies' 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. This places shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

Many other vital risk factors can be found on the company's balance sheet. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for Carlisle Companies with six simple checks on some of these key factors.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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