With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 18.8x Jiangsu Shentong Valve Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002438) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 28x and even P/E's higher than 51x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

Jiangsu Shentong Valve certainly has been doing a good job lately as its earnings growth has been positive while most other companies have been seeing their earnings go backwards. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Jiangsu Shentong Valve

How Is Jiangsu Shentong Valve's Growth Trending?

Jiangsu Shentong Valve's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 15%. EPS has also lifted 19% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably been satisfied with the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 37% as estimated by the two analysts watching the company. With the market predicted to deliver 42% growth , the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

In light of this, it's understandable that Jiangsu Shentong Valve's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Bottom Line On Jiangsu Shentong Valve'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 Jiangsu Shentong Valve maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Jiangsu Shentong Valve with six simple checks.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Jiangsu Shentong Valve. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.