When close to half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 28x, you may consider Chongqing Sanfeng Environment Group Corp., Ltd. (SHSE:601827) as a highly attractive investment with its 12.2x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Chongqing Sanfeng Environment Group's earnings growth of late has been pretty similar to most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this modest earnings performance may begin to slide. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could 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, Chongqing Sanfeng Environment Group would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.

Taking a look back first, we see that there was hardly any earnings per share growth to speak of for the company over the past year. Likewise, not much has changed from three years ago as earnings have been stuck during that whole time. So it seems apparent to us that the company has struggled to grow earnings meaningfully over that time.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 6.5% per annum during the coming three years according to the dual analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 24% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Chongqing Sanfeng Environment Group 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 Key Takeaway

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.

As we suspected, our examination of Chongqing Sanfeng Environment Group's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook 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.

Plus, you should also learn about these 2 warning signs we've spotted with Chongqing Sanfeng Environment Group.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.