With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 20.7x Avient Corporation (NYSE:AVNT) 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 10x 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 growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Avient has been doing relatively well. The P/E is probably high because investors think this strong earnings performance will continue. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Check out our latest analysis for Avient

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Avient.

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

Avient's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver solid growth, and importantly, perform better than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 123%. EPS has also lifted 12% in aggregate from three years ago, mostly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably been satisfied with the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 6.3% as estimated by the seven analysts watching the company. That's not great when the rest of the market is expected to grow by 14%.

With this information, we find it concerning that Avient is trading at a P/E higher than the market. 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 these declining earnings are likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Bottom Line On Avient's P/E

Using the price-to-earnings ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

Our examination of Avient's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking earnings isn't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. When we see a poor outlook with earnings heading backwards, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the high P/E lower. This places shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

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

You might be able to find a better investment than Avient. 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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