Multiple Expansion and Stock Performance
Simply put, multiple expansion refers to the expansion of a stock’s price/earnings ratio based on investor willingness to place more value on the company’s earnings. This willingness, it needs be noted, can drive the stock price up all on its own. Consider the hypothetical J.R. Ewing Gold Company, which trades at $10 per share on a valuation of 10 times its $1 of earnings. Let’s say investor interest starts driving the share price up, and, even lacking any noteworthy news or developments, the stock rises to $25 and pushes the price/earnings ratio up to 25/1. If you’d been invested in the company at $10 per share, multiple expansion helped you more than double your money.