I bought three stocks which did poorly in 2000. CSCO,(Cisco) on
04/07/00, WCOM MCI Worldcom on same date,and LU (Lucent) on 10/19/00.
I dont remember what the Price to Earnings ratio for the three stocks
were at the time I purchased them. Can you help me with some figures
regarding the P and E for these stocks.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 19 Oct 2003 13:31 PDT

Hello there,

Interesting question...I would have thought these readily available,
but that seems not to be the case.  I haven't been able to find P/E
data for specific dates.

I do have access to the high, low, and closing (end of year) P/E for
any listed stock.  Let me know if this would be of interest as an
answer to your question.

Thanks.

pafalafa-ga

Hello.

Through my local library, I have access to the New York Times'
archive.

I checked the stock tables in the New York Times for the dates you
requested.


Cisco - April 7, 2000
P/E ratio: CC* (* >100)
source: 
The New York Times, April 8, 2000 (covers April 7, 2000 trading), page
C8.

MCI Worldcom - April 7, 2000
P/E ratio: 32
source: 
The New York Times, April 8, 2000 (covers April 7, 2000 trading), page
C10.

Lucent - October 19, 2000
P/E ratio: 26
source: 
The New York Times, October 20, 2000 (covers October 19, 2000
trading), page W3.

---------------

Note, as indicated, the New York Times listed Cisco's P/E ratio as
'CC,' meaning that it exceeded 100, and they don't bother publishing
P/E ratios that large.  In fact, Cisco's P/E at the time was
approximately 200.

As Morris mentions below, the P/E is calculated on the basis of
earnings per share for the trailing twelve months.

Here are Cisco's per-share-earnings for the preceding 12 months:

2nd Quarter 2000: .125
1st Quarter 2000: .065
4th Quarter 1999: .09
3rd Quarter 1999: .095
               ----------
Trailing 12 mos.: .375 

Cisco's closing price on April 7, 2000 was 74.94.  That implies a
price-to-earnings ratio of 199.84 (i.e., 74.94 divided by .375 =
199.84).

sources (NOTE: per share earnings above are adjusted for Cisco stock
splits that took place on 6/22/1999 & 3/23/2000):
Cisco quarterly earnings:
2nd Quarter 2000
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/2000/feb00/corp_020800.htm
1st Quarter 2000
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/1999/nov99/15.html
4th Quarter 1999
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/1999/aug99/12.html
3rd Quarter 1999
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/pressroom/1999/may99/19.html
 
The earnings per share calculated above are also consistent with the
P/E ratio that was reported in a newsgroups post by an internet user
on April 14, 2000, after Cisco has dropped considerably in the
preceding week:
"I really believe people will keep selling till Cisco has a PE in the
50s.
Even now at 57 it is 149x earnings."
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=2000+%22cisco+has+a+pe%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=38f77231.172276838%40news.newsguy.com&rnum=1

If the P/E was 149 when Cisco was at 57, that is consistent with
per-share-earnings of .38 and a P/E of almost 200 when Cisco was at
75.


search strategy:
new york times archive
cisco earnings "second quarter" 2000, etc
"cisco has a pe" 2000

I hope this helps.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 04 Nov 2003 13:21 PST

Hi Faron: 
 
I listed the Lucent and MCI Worldcom P/E ratios toward the top of answer above: 
 
MCI Worldcom - April 7, 2000  
P/E ratio: 32 
 
Lucent - October 19, 2000  
P/E ratio: 26

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 04 Nov 2003 13:23 PST

As indicated above, the source for the MCI Worldcom P/E was:

The New York Times, April 8, 2000 (covers April 7, 2000 trading), page
C10.
 
 
The source for the Lucent P/E was:
 
The New York Times, October 20, 2000 (covers October 19, 2000
trading), page W3.

The "E" of the P/E ratio isn't recomputed on a continuing basis,
unlike the "P" which is the stock price of the moment. The standard
P/E ratio uses the trailing 4 quarters earnings - stock shills like
using the forward earnings, since they can make those estimates
whatever they want. In any case, you can determine the previous 4
quarters earnings for those companies at those times by looking up the
SEC filings on the EDGAR system:

http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

Just divide the closing stock price on the days you're interested in
by the trailing 4 quarters earnings you get from EDGAR to get what the
quoted P/E ratio would have been on that day.

Youv'e helped me with Cisco, Now what about Lucent and Worldcom  price
vs-earnings for the time periods that I gave you.

Hi Faron:

They're right there in the answer above:

MCI Worldcom - April 7, 2000 
P/E ratio: 32

Lucent - October 19, 2000 
P/E ratio: 26 


"MCI Worldcom - April 7, 2000 
P/E ratio: 32 
source:  
The New York Times, April 8, 2000 (covers April 7, 2000 trading), page
C10.
 
Lucent - October 19, 2000 
P/E ratio: 26 
source:  
The New York Times, October 20, 2000 (covers October 19, 2000
trading), page W3."