Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK) shares have had a horrible month, losing 25% after a relatively good period beforehand. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 15% in that time.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, Teekay Tankers may still be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3.6x, 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 highly reduced P/E.

Teekay Tankers hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining earnings compare poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth on average. It seems that many are expecting the dour earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If you still 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?

Teekay Tankers' P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 23%. This has erased any of its gains during the last three years, with practically no change in EPS being achieved in total. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the six analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 8.1% over the next year. With the market predicted to deliver 15% growth , that's a disappointing outcome.

In light of this, it's understandable that Teekay Tankers' 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 Bottom Line On Teekay Tankers' P/E

Having almost fallen off a cliff, Teekay Tankers' share price has pulled its P/E way down as well. We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that Teekay Tankers maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Teekay Tankers (at least 1 which is a bit concerning), and understanding these should be part of your investment process.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Teekay Tankers. 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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