When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 20x, you may consider Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC) as an attractive investment with its 16.3x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Exelon has been doing relatively well. 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.

How Is Exelon's Growth Trending?

Exelon'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.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 13% last year. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 53% overall rise in EPS, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 6.4% per annum over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 11% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's understandable that Exelon's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Final Word

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.

As we suspected, our examination of Exelon's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook 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 Exelon is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable.

If you're unsure about the strength of Exelon's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.