What it is
P/E divides today's share price by the company's annual earnings per share. A P/E of 20 means: pay 20× this year's earnings for each share, or equivalently, get a 5% earnings yield.How Buffett thinks about it
Buffett: "Price is what you pay; value is what you get." A low P/E doesn't automatically make a stock cheap — if earnings are temporarily inflated or the business is shrinking, a P/E of 5 could still be expensive. A P/E of 30 on a business that compounds earnings at 15% for 20 years can be a bargain in hindsight.What "good" looks like
- Compare a stock's P/E to: