Despite an already strong run, Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 25% in the last thirty days. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 48% in the last year.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Lithia Motors may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 12.8x, since almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios greater than 20x and even P/E's higher than 36x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, Lithia Motors' earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. It seems that many are expecting the dour earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Is There Any Growth For Lithia Motors?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 22% decrease to the company's bottom line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 13% in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 17% per annum during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. With the market only predicted to deliver 10% per annum, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Lithia Motors' P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Key Takeaway

Despite Lithia Motors' shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. 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.

We've established that Lithia Motors currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. There could be some major unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the positive outlook. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

You need to take note of risks, for example - Lithia Motors has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.

You might be able to find a better investment than Lithia Motors. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.