With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 20.6x Ningbo Haitian Precision Machinery Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:601882) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 36x and even P/E's higher than 71x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, Ningbo Haitian Precision MachineryLtd has been very sluggish. It seems that many are expecting the dismal earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If you still like the company, you'd want its earnings trajectory to turn around before making any decisions. Or at the very least, you'd be hoping the earnings slide doesn't get any worse 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?

Ningbo Haitian Precision MachineryLtd's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 7.6%. However, a few very strong years before that means that it was still able to grow EPS by an impressive 80% in total over the last three years. 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.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the five analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 27% over the next year. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 38% growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Ningbo Haitian Precision MachineryLtd 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

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 Ningbo Haitian Precision MachineryLtd 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. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

The company's balance sheet is another key area for risk analysis. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Ningbo Haitian Precision MachineryLtd with six simple checks.

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.