Central China Management Company Limited (HKG:9982) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 26% gain and recovering from prior weakness. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 49% over that time.

Even after such a large jump in price, Central China Management's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3.7x might still make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in Hong Kong, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 9x and even P/E's above 18x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.

With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, Central China Management has been very sluggish. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to improve at all. If you still like the company, you'd want its earnings trajectory to turn around before making any decisions. If not, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Is There Any Growth For Central China Management?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as depressed as Central China Management's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market decidedly.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 53% decrease to the company's bottom line. This means it has also seen a slide in earnings over the longer-term as EPS is down 68% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 3.0% each year during the coming three years according to the two analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 15% per year, which is noticeably more attractive.

With this information, we can see why Central China Management is trading at a P/E lower than the market. 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 Central China Management's P/E

Central China Management's recent share price jump still sees its P/E sitting firmly flat on the ground. We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that Central China Management maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Having said that, be aware Central China Management is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

If you're unsure about the strength of Central China Management'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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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.