Despite an already strong run, Ossia International Limited (SGX:O08) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 26% in the last thirty days. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 11% over that time.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, given about half the companies in Singapore have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 12x, you may still consider Ossia International as a highly attractive investment with its 5.8x P/E ratio. 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.

As an illustration, earnings have deteriorated at Ossia International over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company won't do enough to avoid underperforming the broader market in the near future. 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.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Ossia International would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 35% decrease to the company's bottom line. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 38% overall rise in EPS, in spite of its unsatisfying short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a very good job of growing earnings over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

It's interesting to note that the rest of the market is similarly expected to grow by 12% over the next year, which is fairly even with the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it odd that Ossia International is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders are more bearish than recent times would indicate and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Key Takeaway

Ossia International's recent share price jump still sees its P/E sitting firmly flat on the ground. 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.

Our examination of Ossia International revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't contributing to its P/E as much as we would have predicted, given they look similar to current market expectations. There could be some unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the company's performance. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued if recent medium-term earnings trends continue, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

Having said that, be aware Ossia International is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those can't be ignored.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.

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