With a median price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of close to 18x in the United States, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Afya Limited's (NASDAQ:AFYA) P/E ratio of 16.4x. While this might not raise any eyebrows, if the P/E ratio is not justified investors could be missing out on a potential opportunity or ignoring looming disappointment.

Afya certainly has been doing a good job lately as its earnings growth has been positive while most other companies have been seeing their earnings go backwards. One possibility is that the P/E is moderate because investors think the company's earnings will be less resilient moving forward. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's not quite in favour.

Check out our latest analysis for Afya

Keen to find out how analysts think Afya's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

How Is Afya's Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Afya would need to produce growth that's similar to the market.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 64% last year. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 123% 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 three years should generate growth of 17% per annum as estimated by the seven analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we find it interesting that Afya is trading at a fairly similar P/E to the market. Apparently some shareholders are skeptical of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Bottom Line On Afya's P/E

While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

Our examination of Afya's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E as much as we would have predicted. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

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

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Afya, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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