When close to half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 32x, you may consider Suzhou New District Hi-Tech Industrial Co.,Ltd (SHSE:600736) as a highly attractive investment with its 14.1x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually underperform the broader market in the near future. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

View our latest analysis for Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd

How Is Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd's Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far underperform the market for P/E ratios like Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 36% gain to the company's bottom line. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 75% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 42% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's understandable that Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on to something they believe will continue to trail the bourse.

The Key Takeaway

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 Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider and we've discovered 4 warning signs for Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd (2 don't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

You might be able to find a better investment than Suzhou New District Hi-Tech IndustrialLtd. 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.