Declining stock prices lower P/E ratios of cos

Price-Earning (P/E) ratios of 70 listed companies are now below 10, according to their latest financials.
The P/E ratios of the majority of listed companies decreased mainly because of the decline in stock prices across the board barring that of multinational companies (MNCs).
The P/E ratio is market price divided by Earnings Per Share (EPS).
The ratio is used to determine whether the stock price is overpriced or undervalued.
Apart from some exceptions, the P/E ratio beyond a certain limit of a company indicates that its shares are overpriced.
The companies, whose P/E ratios are below 10, include 22 insurance companies, 18 banks and the rest belong to different sectors.
Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, former chairman of the securities regulator, said the stocks of a company are investible if their P/E ratio is below 15.
"An investor can expect above 6.0 per cent dividend along with capital gains from the investments made in the shares of the companies whose P/E ratio is below 15," said Mr. Islam, also the former adviser to the caretaker government.
He said no capital gain, other than the interest, will come from bank deposits.
"Nevertheless, I do not understand why investors are reluctant to invest in shares of the companies whose P/E ratios have declined significantly. I think it's time to enter the market," Mr. Islam said.   
The P/E ratios of Southeast Bank and Trust bank are 3.76 and 3.49 respectively.
Among other bank companies, the P/E ratio of AB Bank is 4.44, whereas such ratio of Al-Arafah Islami Bank is 5.09, Bank Asia 9.38, City Bank 6.54, Dhaka Bank 4.17, Dutch-Bangla Bank 8.44, Exim Bank 4.95, Islami Bank 6.75, Mercantile Bank 6.6, MTB 4.51, NBL 8.38, NCC Bank 5.05, Prime Bank 7.29, Shahjalal Islamic Bank 9.50, SIBL 6.44, Standard Bank 4.27 and UCBL 4.35.
Among the insurance companies, the P/E ratio of Agrani Insurance is 6.74, whereas the ratio of Asia Insurance is 6.63, Asia Pacific General Insurance 8.73, Central Insurance 9.28, City General Insurance 9.28, Continental Insurance 8.01, Dhaka Insurance 9.29, Eastern Insurance 9.01, Eastland Insurance 7.43, Karnaphuli Insurance 9.22, Mercantile Insurance 7.75, Nitol Insurance 5.24, Northern Insurance 8.27, Peoples Insurance 7.03, Pioneer Insurance 5.15 and Pragati Insurance 9.61.
The P/E ratio of Prime Insurance is 5.73, whereas that of Provati Insurance is 6.85, Purabi general Insurance 8.14, Republic Insurance 8.60, Reliance Insurance 7.38, Sonar Bangla Insurance 8.18 and Standard Insurance 6.2.
The other companies whose P/E ratios exist below 10 are Argon Denims, Bay Leasing, Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company (BIFC), CMC Kamal, C & A Textiles, Envoy Textile, Familytex (BD), Far East Knitting and Dyeing Industries Limited (FEKDIL), First Finance, Generation Next Fashions, IPDC, Keya Cosmetics, Khulna Power Company, Khulna Printing and Packaging, Malek Spinning, Matin Spinning, Meghna Cement, Meghna Petroleum, National Housing Finance and Investments (NHFI), Orion Pharma, Paramount Textile, Prime Finance and Investment, Paramount Textile, Paramount Textile, Shasha Denims, Titas Gas, Union capital and Zahin Textile.
The P/E ratios of many other listed companies are below 20.
[email protected]