With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 21.5x Patria Investments Limited (NASDAQ:PAX) may be sending bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios under 16x and even P/E's lower than 9x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Patria Investments could be doing better as its earnings have been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive earnings growth. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think this poor earnings performance will turn the corner. If not, then existing shareholders may be extremely nervous about the viability of the share price.

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

How Is Patria Investments' Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like Patria Investments' to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 40%. This means it has also seen a slide in earnings over the longer-term as EPS is down 47% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the four analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 51% per year over the next three years. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 11% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Patria Investments' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Bottom Line On Patria Investments' P/E

We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that Patria Investments maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.