Apple from 2009 had 4 years of 50%+ growth ahead of it in Revenue & Net Income, yet despite that it never had a P/E ratio higher than 20x (Was usually closer to 10x).
(Tesla revenue & Net income expectations for 2021-2022 actually looks quite similar to Apple in 2009)
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There's multiple counters to this argument. But just to point out the years you circled we were in a recession......every stock's P/E multiple was much lower than it usually was for years after the market crashes and P/E multiples across the board are much higher today than in those years. Apple's current P/E is 29............
Also, a big part of the reason Apple's P/E was so low to begin with is because they actually hard earnings from a early stage, mainly because while the Iphone business was new for them, the company was matured and could realize profits much sooner than a growth company starting from nothing.
Pretty easy to plot out the timelines as to why Apple's P/E never really got high.
Pre 2007 - Apple is still making money on their Mac lineup, they had 2 billion in net income that year.
2007 - Iphone is release, some hype but questions about how big it could be and to note...the company was already making 3.5 billion in net income
Years 2008- 2012 - Iphone is big success but country in recession which will depress all stock's P/E....plus Apple is able to realize profits right away which again keeps their P/E low. Their net income essentially keeps up with the stock gains....keeping the P/E multiple low.
Years 2013-2020 - Revenue growth slows considerably, is lumpy, and especially, net income starts to stall. Wall St's expectations for future earnings drops and thus their P/E never really get's higher than what it's always been.
It wasn't exactly fair for Apple to a low P/E during the first 4 years of the Iphone........but there were situational circumstances around it
