Australian Ethical Investment Limited (ASX:AEF) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 26% gain in the last month alone. Notwithstanding the latest gain, the annual share price return of 6.2% isn't as impressive.

Following the firm bounce in price, Australian Ethical Investment may be sending very bearish signals at the moment with a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 55.6x, since almost half of all companies in Australia have P/E ratios under 20x and even P/E's lower than 11x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/E.

Recent times have been advantageous for Australian Ethical Investment as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. The P/E is probably high because investors think this strong earnings performance will continue. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

View our latest analysis for Australian Ethical Investment

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

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/E?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 75%. Although, its longer-term performance hasn't been as strong with three-year EPS growth being relatively non-existent overall. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 38% each year as estimated by the only analyst watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 19% per annum, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Australian Ethical Investment's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

What We Can Learn From Australian Ethical Investment's P/E?

Shares in Australian Ethical Investment have built up some good momentum lately, which has really inflated its 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.

We've established that Australian Ethical Investment 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. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

You always need to take note of risks, for example - Australian Ethical Investment has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

If you're unsure about the strength of Australian Ethical Investment'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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