Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares Co., Ltd. (SZSE:003023) shareholders that were waiting for something to happen have been dealt a blow with a 27% share price drop in the last month. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 39% in that time.

Although its price has dipped substantially, Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 16.7x might still make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in China, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 28x and even P/E's above 50x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

Earnings have risen firmly for Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares recently, which is pleasing to see. It might be that many expect the respectable earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. 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.

Is There Any Growth For Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 16%. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen a very unpleasant 28% drop in EPS in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the market is expected to grow by 41% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term earnings decline into perspective.

With this information, we are not surprised that Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares is trading at a P/E lower than the market. However, we think shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent earnings trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Bottom Line On Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares' P/E

Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares' P/E has taken a tumble along with its share price. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

We've established that Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its sliding earnings over the medium-term, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. If recent medium-term earnings trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Chengdu Rainbow Appliance (Group) Shares. 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.