Valuation of a Company's Shares

Identify the (current) price earnings ratios for three companies traded on the London Stock Exchange and indicate how the ratio has changed over the last five years. Discuss the factors that might explain the differences between the price earnings ratios for the three companies and the changes that have occurred in their price earnings ratios over the five year period.

Choose companies with a range of P/E ratios to give you one with a relatively low value, one with a relatively high value, and another with a middling value.

You should use the insights provided by valuation models on the determinants of the price-earnings ratios in your discussion, but you should also discuss the role of any other factors that might influence the reported values of price-earnings ratios of the companies you have chosen.