When close to half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 30x, you may consider Fujian Septwolves Industry Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002029) as a highly attractive investment with its 14.6x 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.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, Fujian Septwolves Industry has been doing quite well of late. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company's earnings are going to fall away like everyone else's soon. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Fujian Septwolves Industry

How Is Fujian Septwolves Industry's Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far underperform the market for P/E ratios like Fujian Septwolves Industry's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's bottom line as the year before. Fortunately, a few good years before that means that it was still able to grow EPS by 29% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the only analyst covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 28% over the next year. With the market predicted to deliver 42% growth , the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

With this information, we can see why Fujian Septwolves Industry is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

The Key Takeaway

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.

We've established that Fujian Septwolves Industry 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.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Fujian Septwolves Industry 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.