As the market prices and sentiments come and go, it can help to stay objective.

Right now, the JSE is priced at almost 14 times earnings - in other words when you buy a share, you are asked to surrender 14 years of profit to pay for the damn thing - rather more than the mulktidecade average of less than 12X.

As we pass the middle of this year, the attached table shows what the 'expert' analysts out there are forecasting for growth in earnings per share in the three largest companies in each broad sector/discipline, from now till next July, and for the following year.

It does seem that - IF the earnings forecasts come through, then the overall price/earnings (PE) ratio is maybe not too bad! 

Cheers

Stuart

JSE mid-2010 eps forecasts