With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 6.2x RPC, Inc. (NYSE:RES) may be sending very bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios greater than 17x and even P/E's higher than 33x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times have been quite advantageous for RPC as its earnings have been rising very briskly. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for RPC

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?

RPC's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 68% last year. However, the latest three year period hasn't been as great in aggregate as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 9.9% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker based on recent medium-term annualised earnings results.

With this information, we can see why RPC is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on to something they believe will continue to trail the bourse.

The Bottom Line On RPC'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.

We've established that RPC maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for RPC that you need to take into consideration.

If you're unsure about the strength of RPC's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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