Compare the same valuation measure over time
This table displays the FMP historical industry P/E response. It can help you assemble dated observations for an industry. It does not calculate a fair price, rank industries or identify a buying opportunity.
- Select an industry and click Load Data. The selector is a draft until applied; the status above the table names the loaded industry.
- Read the date and exchange on each row. A missing exchange label is not evidence of a combined global universe. The page retains provider order and removes only exact duplicate rows.
- Browse 50 rows per page or export all loaded rows. The request has no date-range parameter, so a long table is not proof of complete history.
- Separate each exchange before comparing dates. Record the coverage, missing observations and data definition alongside any average you calculate outside this tool.
A company ratio and an industry aggregate are different calculations
Investor.gov defines company P/E as share price divided by earnings per share. For a hypothetical company priced at 60 with EPS of 3 for the chosen earnings period, the multiple is 20. That calculation does not tell us how a data provider combines many companies.
For example, suppose two hypothetical companies have market capitalizations of 100 and 900, and earnings of 10 and 30 in the same currency and period. Their individual multiples are 10 and 30. The arithmetic mean is 20, but combined market capitalization divided by combined earnings is 1,000 / 40 = 25. Both computations are reproducible; they answer different aggregation questions.
The endpoint response used here does not supply the weights, constituents, earnings period or loss-company inclusion policy needed to reproduce its P/E. Do not label it a market-cap-weighted, equal-weighted, trailing or forward series without that methodology. This page preserves the reported value rather than substituting a guessed formula.
Why a lower multiple may not mean a better investment
Consider a hypothetical share price that remains 60 while earnings per share rise from 3 to 6: P/E falls from 20 to 10 without a price decline. Whether those earnings are recurring changes the interpretation. Likewise, replacing companies in an industry sample can change an aggregate even if the remaining companies have unchanged valuations.
Negative and near-zero earnings make comparisons especially difficult. The tool keeps finite negative and zero provider values, but does not score them as bargains. Missing or non-finite values appear as Not supplied and export as blanks. A missing value is not zero.
Coverage and freshness checks before using the export
The application caches P/E responses for up to 10 minutes and the industry list for up to 24 hours. Refresh requests data again; it is not a live market stream or a guarantee that the provider has published a new observation. Record the retrieval time separately from each observation date.
For a historical study, establish when each figure became available, whether it was later revised, and whether the same constituent and earnings rules apply throughout the series. This endpoint alone does not provide a point-in-time investment universe or publication timestamps. The page offers no backtest, automated orders or direct import of these observations into Pine Script.