When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may consider H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE:HRB) as an attractive investment with its 10.9x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times have been pleasing for H&R Block as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, possibly more than the market, 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 H&R Block?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, H&R Block would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 44% gain to the company's bottom line. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 46% 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.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to slump, contracting by 2.1% during the coming year according to the three analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 13%, which paints a poor picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that H&R Block is trading at a P/E lower than the market. However, shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term. There's potential for the P/E to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its profitability.

What We Can Learn From H&R Block's P/E?

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.

As we suspected, our examination of H&R Block's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking earnings is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with H&R Block (at least 1 which shouldn't be ignored), and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than H&R Block. 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.