The price-earnings (p/e) ratios of shares in some of the best-known internet firms are certainly high Google's is 90, and eBay's is 54, compared with a p/e of 18 for the Dow Jones average.
Llopart et al. (2005) found significantly lower ratios of shared to fixed polymorphisms between the species on the X chromosome than on autosomes, which they considered consistent with reduced introgression of X-linked sites due to the disproportionate contribution of the X to hybrid male sterility.
Joel Beam, a senior portfolio manager of the Salient Tactical Real Estate Fund, cited the ratio of share price to REIT cash flow, using adjusted funds from operations.
On the other hand, the ratio of share prices to corporate profits now stands well above its historic average.
Optimists cite the relatively modest ratio of share prices to forecast profits as a reason for buying equities.
"When you have a situation in which interest rates are falling and price-earnings multiples are expanding," Mr. Applegate said, referring to the ratio of share price to earnings per share, "growth typically outperforms value.
Assume a 5% profit margin and a ratio of share price to earnings of 40, and the firm should have a market cap of $150 billion, he says.
One such, the ratio of share prices to the replacement cost of firms' assets (the "q" ratio), is around its highest level since at least 1925, according to calculations by Andrew Smithers and Stephen Wright, two British analysts.
Because the ratio of share prices to the replacement cost of physical capital (factories, machines and so on)—a ratio known as Tobin's Q is at record highs, that would imply there has been a huge increase in intangible assets, such as new technology and human capital.
This may partly explain why Microsoft's p/e ratio of share price to profits has fallen from 86 to 30.In place of options, the firm says it will now grant "restricted stock"—shares that will be fully transferred over five years.
