The GRG Banking Equipment Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002152) share price has fared very poorly over the last month, falling by a substantial 25%. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 21% share price drop.

Even after such a large drop in price, GRG Banking Equipment's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 23.4x might still make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in China, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 27x and even P/E's above 48x are quite common. 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 its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, GRG Banking Equipment 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 you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

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

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 5.8%. EPS has also lifted 27% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has actually done a good job of growing earnings over that time.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 23% during the coming year according to the three analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 41% growth , the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

With this information, we can see why GRG Banking Equipment 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 Final Word

GRG Banking Equipment's recently weak share price has pulled its P/E below most other companies. 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.

We've established that GRG Banking Equipment maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

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

If you're unsure about the strength of GRG Banking Equipment'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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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.