When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may consider SunCoke Energy, Inc. (NYSE:SXC) as an attractive investment with its 13.9x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

SunCoke Energy has been struggling lately as its earnings have declined faster than most other companies. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to improve at all. If you still like the company, you'd want its earnings trajectory to turn around before making any decisions. Or at the very least, you'd be hoping the earnings slide doesn't get any worse if your plan is to pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Is There Any Growth For SunCoke Energy?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 31% decrease to the company's bottom line. However, a few very strong years before that means that it was still able to grow EPS by an impressive 294% in total over the last three years. 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 two analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 1.2% per year over the next three years. With the market predicted to deliver 10% growth per year, the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

With this information, we can see why SunCoke Energy is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

What We Can Learn From SunCoke Energy's P/E?

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.

We've established that SunCoke Energy maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. 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.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for SunCoke Energy (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.

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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.

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