With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 6.3x Sinotrans Limited (HKG:598) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Hong Kong have P/E ratios greater than 9x and even P/E's higher than 18x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, Sinotrans has been very sluggish. It seems that many are expecting the dismal earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. You'd much rather the company wasn't bleeding earnings if you still believe in the business. If not, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Sinotrans

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

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

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 12%. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 35% 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.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 9.2% as estimated by the seven analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 22% growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Sinotrans 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.

What We Can Learn From Sinotrans' P/E?

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

As we suspected, our examination of Sinotrans' analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook is contributing to its low P/E. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Sinotrans you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.

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