Which industries would you use EV/EBITDA and which would you use P/E?

Hey everyone,

Been trying to understand the mechanisms behind choosing either a EV multiple or an equity multiple.

Was wondering if anyone could run me down which industries would they use EV/EBITDA for and which would they use P/E for, and the reasons why?

For example, oil & gas companies. I feel like because they are so levered EV/EBITDA should be used, but at the same time that doesn't take into account their interest payments and high D&A costs.

Any thoughts?

5 Comments
 

Take my answer as a grain of salt as I'm an intern, but I believe you'd use EV/EBITDA multiples for your more traditional widget companies. Then you'd use P/E multiples for companies such as banks and insurers since interest (income and expenses) are VERY significant cash flows, so they are quite capital structure reliant.

 
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