With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 37x MillerKnoll, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLKN) may be sending very 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 quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

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MillerKnoll hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining earnings compare poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth on average. It might be that many expect the dour earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be extremely nervous about the viability of the share price.

See our latest analysis for MillerKnoll

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

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 MillerKnoll's to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 55%. Unfortunately, that's brought it right back to where it started three years ago with EPS growth being virtually non-existent overall during that time. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 222% as estimated by the four analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 13% growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's understandable that MillerKnoll's 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 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 MillerKnoll 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.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 4 warning signs for MillerKnoll (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that we have uncovered.

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

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