Investors generally tend to cling to the price-to-earnings (P/E) metric while looking for bargain stocks. In addition to being a widely used tool for screening stocks, P/E is also a popular metric to work out the fair market value of a company. But even this ubiquitously used valuation multiple has a few limitations. Although P/E is by far the most popular equity valuation ratio, a more complicated metric called EV/EBITDA does a better job of valuing a firm. Often viewed as a better substitute to P/E, this ratio offers a clearer picture of a company's valuation and its earnings potential. Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Costamare Inc. (NYSE: CMRE), The ODP Corporation (NASDAQ: ODP), ADT Inc. (NYSE: ADT) and Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR) are some stocks with impressive EV-to-EBITDA ratios. Is EV-to-EBITDA a Better Substitute to P/E? EV-to-EBITDA is essentially the enterprise value of a stock divided by its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). EV is the sum of a company's market capitalization, its debt and preferred stock minus cash and cash equivalents. EBITDA, the other component of the multiple, gives a better idea of a company's profitability as it removes the impact of non-cash expenses like depreciation and amortization that reduce net earnings. It is also often used as a proxy for cash flows. Just like P/E, the lower the EV-to-EBITDA ratio, the more attractive it is. A low EV-to-EBITDA ratio could signal that a stock is potentially undervalued. EV-to-EBITDA takes into account the debt on a company's balance sheet that the P/E ratio does not. Due to this reason, EV-to-EBITDA is generally used to value the potential acquisition targets as it shows the amount of debt the acquirer has to assume. Stocks boasting a low EV-to-EBITDA multiple could be seen as attractive takeover candidates. Another shortcoming of P/E is that it can't be used to value a loss-making firm. A company's earnings are ...