... similar leverage and operating characteristics 3.8 Financial ratios in practice This section lists a number of typical applications, where financial commentators refer to price/ earnings or other ... defined as P0 / E Note that these are prospective P/E-ratios and earnings yields, 13 and that financial analysts refer often to historic or trailing values, defined as E / P0 and P0 / E respectively ... the above measures is that they refer to prospective dividend and earnings yields, whereas the financial press often reports historic yields However, it is easy to see that they can be related...