With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 10x Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios greater than 17x and even P/E's higher than 30x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

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Recent times have been advantageous for Omnicom Group as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings performance might be less impressive moving forward. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Omnicom Group

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

Is There Any Growth For Omnicom Group?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the market for P/E ratios like Omnicom Group's to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 8.0%. The latest three year period has also seen a 15% overall rise in EPS, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has actually done a good job of growing earnings over that time.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 8.5% per annum during the coming three years according to the ten analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 10% each year, which is not materially different.

With this information, we find it odd that Omnicom Group is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

What We Can Learn From Omnicom Group's P/E?

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 Omnicom Group's analyst forecasts revealed that its market-matching earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E as much as we would have predicted. There could be some unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the outlook. It appears some are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide more support to the share price.

The company's balance sheet is another key area for risk analysis. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for Omnicom Group with six simple checks on some of these key factors.

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

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