Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300428) share price has dived 33% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. The recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 57% loss during that time.

Since its price has dipped substantially, Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group may be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 16.4x, since almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 27x and even P/E's higher than 48x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group's negative earnings growth of late has neither been better nor worse than most other companies. It might be that many expect the company's earnings performance to degrade further, which has repressed the P/E. You'd much rather the company wasn't bleeding earnings if you still believe in the business. At the very least, you'd be hoping that earnings don't fall off a cliff if your plan is to pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 1.2%. Regardless, EPS has managed to lift by a handy 8.1% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the earlier period of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing earnings over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the five analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 71% over the next year. With the market only predicted to deliver 41%, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

With this information, we find it odd that Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Key Takeaway

Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group's recently weak share price has pulled its P/E below most other companies. It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

We've established that Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

You always need to take note of risks, for example - Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

If you're unsure about the strength of Lizhong Sitong Light Alloys Group's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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