The China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment Corporation Limited (SHSE:688285) share price has fared very poorly over the last month, falling by a substantial 32%. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 28% in that time.

Following the heavy fall in price, China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 18.1x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in China, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 27x and even P/E's above 48x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

Earnings have risen firmly for China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment recently, which is pleasing to see. It might be that many expect the respectable earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 12%. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen an unpleasant 44% overall drop in EPS. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 41% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term earnings results is a sobering picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment is trading at a P/E lower than the market. 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 recent earnings trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment's P/E has taken a tumble along with its share price. 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 China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment revealed its shrinking earnings over the medium-term are contributing to its low P/E, given the market is set to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for China Railway High-speed Electrification Equipment that you should be aware of.

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.