When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 18x, you may consider CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) as an attractive investment with its 13.9x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

Recent times haven't been advantageous for CF Industries Holdings as its earnings have been falling quicker than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the dismal earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If you still like the company, you'd want its earnings trajectory to turn around before making any decisions. If not, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

How Is CF Industries Holdings' Growth Trending?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 54% decrease to the company's bottom line. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 175% overall rise in EPS, in spite of its unsatisfying short-term performance. Although it's been a bumpy ride, it's still fair to say the earnings growth recently has been more than adequate for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 1.8% per year over the next three years. With the market predicted to deliver 10% growth per annum, that's a disappointing outcome.

In light of this, it's understandable that CF Industries Holdings' P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

As we suspected, our examination of CF Industries Holdings' analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking earnings 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.

Having said that, be aware CF Industries Holdings is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is concerning.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on CF Industries Holdings, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.