With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 8.9x Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co.,Ltd (SZSE:000792) may be sending very bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 35x and even P/E's higher than 65x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.

Recent times haven't been advantageous for Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd as its earnings have been falling quicker than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the dismal earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. 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.

View our latest analysis for Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 33% decrease to the company's bottom line. This has erased any of its gains during the last three years, with practically no change in EPS being achieved in total. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 17% as estimated by the ten analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 44%, which is noticeably more attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

The Bottom Line On Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd's P/E

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 Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd with six simple checks.

If you're unsure about the strength of Qinghai Salt Lake IndustryLtd'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.