When close to half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 9x, you may consider China Tower Corporation Limited (HKG:788) as a stock to potentially avoid with its 13.5x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's as high as it is.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, China Tower has been doing quite well of late. The P/E is probably high because investors think the company will continue to navigate the broader market headwinds better than most. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for China Tower

How Is China Tower's Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like China Tower's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 14% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 63% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 32% per year as estimated by the analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 16% each year, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that China Tower's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

The Final Word

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

As we suspected, our examination of China Tower's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Having said that, be aware China Tower is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

You might be able to find a better investment than China Tower. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.