With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 51.6x Objective Corporation Limited (ASX:OCL) may be sending very bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Australia have P/E ratios under 20x and even P/E's lower than 11x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Objective certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more than most other companies. 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.

See our latest analysis for Objective

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

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as steep as Objective's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market decidedly.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 48%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 92% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the nine analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 9.9% each year over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 19% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we find it concerning that Objective 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. 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.

The Key Takeaway

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.

We've established that Objective currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its forecast growth is lower than the wider market. When we see a weak earnings outlook with slower than market growth, 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 Objective is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.

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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