Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Linzhou Heavy Machinery Group Co.,Ltd (SZSE:002535) share price has dived 25% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 13% share price drop.

Following the heavy fall in price, given about half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 30x, you may consider Linzhou Heavy Machinery GroupLtd as an attractive investment with its 19.5x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Linzhou Heavy Machinery GroupLtd certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. It might be that many expect the strong 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.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 203%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 197% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 37% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it odd that Linzhou Heavy Machinery GroupLtd 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.

The Key Takeaway

Linzhou Heavy Machinery GroupLtd's P/E has taken a tumble along with its share price. 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 Linzhou Heavy Machinery GroupLtd revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't contributing to its P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current market expectations. 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. At least price risks look to be very low if recent medium-term earnings trends continue, but investors seem to think future earnings could see a lot of volatility.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 2 warning signs for Linzhou Heavy Machinery GroupLtd that we have uncovered.

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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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.

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