When close to half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 30x, you may consider Camel Group Co., Ltd. (SHSE:601311) as an attractive investment with its 15.2x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times have been pleasing for Camel Group as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company's earnings are going to fall away like everyone else's soon. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Camel Group

Is There Any Growth For Camel Group?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as low as Camel Group's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 21% gain to the company's bottom line. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen a very unpleasant 11% drop in EPS in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 40% as estimated by the two analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 42%, which is not materially different.

With this information, we find it odd that Camel Group is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It may be that most investors are not convinced the company can achieve future growth expectations.

What We Can Learn From Camel Group's P/E?

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.

We've established that Camel Group currently trades on a lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is in line with the wider market. When we see an average earnings outlook with market-like growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

Plus, you should also learn about this 1 warning sign we've spotted with Camel Group.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.