When people mention "multiples" when they trade stocks, what does that mean?

Price = Earnings x Multiple OR P = E x MOr P/E = M the Multiple. Kinda stupid?The idea is that an analyst spends a great deal of time figuring out a companies future earnings. But he wishes to predict the future stock price. How? Via the multiple. He 1st gets the earnings, then multiplies it by the multiple and gets the stock price.It is also difficult for the analyst to determine the multiple. He/she usually looks comparable companies and stocks in order to guess the correct value for the multiple.