[muhl-tuh-puh
l] 
| 1. | consisting of, having, or involving several or many individuals, parts, elements, relations, etc.; manifold. |
| 2. | Electricity.
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| 3. | Botany. (of a fruit) collective. |
| 4. | Mathematics. a number that contains another number an integral number of times without a remainder: 12 is a multiple of 3. |
| 5. | Electricity. a group of terminals arranged to make a circuit or group of circuits accessible at a number of points at any one of which connection can be made. |
| mul·ti·ple (mŭl'tə-pəl) adj. Having, relating to, or consisting of more than one individual, element, part, or other component; manifold. n. A number that may be divided by another number with no remainder: 4, 6, and 12 are multiples of 2. [French, from Old French, from Late Latin multiplum, a multiple : Latin multi-, multi- + Latin -plus, -fold; see pel-2 in Indo-European roots.] |
Multiple
Another term for price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio or PE) - a measure of the value of a company's stock determined by its current share price divided by its current annual earnings per share (EPS).
Investopedia Commentary
The term multiple is used because the P/E shows how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings. For example, a stock with $2 of EPS that is trading at $20 has a P/E of 10. This means investors are willing to pay 10 times the current EPS for the stock.
Related Links
Understanding the P/E Ratio
Move Over P/E, Make Way For The PEG
See also: Earnings, Earnings Per Share (EPS), Multiple Compression, Price-Earnings Ratio, Price-Earnings Relative
Also spelled: PE
multiple
In stock-index futures, the number multiplied by the futures price to determine the value of the contract. For example, the $500 multiple of the Standard & Poor's Midcap Index is multiplied by the futures price to determine the value of one contract. Thus, a futures price of $230 would yield a contract value of $115,000 ($500 × $230).
See price-earnings ratio.