Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600458) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 38% gain and recovering from prior weakness. The bad news is that even after the stocks recovery in the last 30 days, shareholders are still underwater by about 9.0% over the last year.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 19.2x, since almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 30x and even P/E's higher than 55x 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 its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology has been doing quite well of late. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, possibly more than the market, which has repressed the P/E. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

How Is Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology's Growth Trending?

Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 72%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 112% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the dual analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 59% over the next year. With the market only predicted to deliver 41%, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

With this information, we find it odd that Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Key Takeaway

Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology's stock might have been given a solid boost, but its P/E certainly hasn't reached any great heights. 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.

Our examination of Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future earnings could see a lot of volatility.

It is also worth noting that we have found 3 warning signs for Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology that you need to take into consideration.

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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