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Valuation Ratios

The valuation ratio is similar tot he price-to-earnings ratio. It's a measure of a company's valuation, usually relative to that of the overall stock market.

Example

If a company—let's call it Theoretical Company Blah—will earn $1 a share this year, and the stock of TCB trades at $20, then it has a 20x or 20:1 price-to-earnings ratio.

The gotcha in here is that companies often carry cash and/or debt, so if TRB has $10 a share in debt and $4 a share in cash, then its price-to-earnings ratio is still 20—but it likely has more volatility in its movements as the debt is gasoline on a fire when things go well or poorly.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)