With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3.1x Tian An China Investments Company Limited (HKG:28) may be sending very 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. 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.

The earnings growth achieved at Tian An China Investments over the last year would be more than acceptable for most companies. It might be that many expect the respectable earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. 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 far underperform the market for P/E ratios like Tian An China Investments' to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 14% last year. This was backed up an excellent period prior to see EPS up by 150% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Weighing that recent medium-term earnings trajectory against the broader market's one-year forecast for expansion of 24% shows it's noticeably more attractive on an annualised basis.

With this information, we find it odd that Tian An China Investments is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders believe the recent performance has exceeded its limits and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

What We Can Learn From Tian An China Investments' P/E?

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 Tian An China Investments currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is higher than the wider market forecast. When we see strong earnings with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because the persistence of these recent medium-term conditions would normally provide a boost to the share price.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 1 warning sign for Tian An China Investments that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Tian An China Investments. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.