Gala Technology Holding Limited (HKG:2458) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 26% after a shaky period beforehand. Longer-term shareholders would be thankful for the recovery in the share price since it's now virtually flat for the year after the recent bounce.

Although its price has surged higher, Gala Technology Holding's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 6.9x might still make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in Hong Kong, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 9x and even P/E's above 18x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

Recent times have been quite advantageous for Gala Technology Holding as its earnings have been rising very briskly. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually underperform the broader market in the near future. 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.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 355%. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 47% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 19% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we can see why Gala Technology Holding is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on to something they believe will continue to trail the bourse.

The Key Takeaway

Despite Gala Technology Holding's shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

We've established that Gala Technology Holding maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, as expected. 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.

Having said that, be aware Gala Technology Holding is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Gala Technology Holding, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.