With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3.3x China Overseas Grand Oceans Group Limited (HKG:81) may be sending very bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Hong Kong have P/E ratios greater than 9x and even P/E's higher than 19x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.

With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, China Overseas Grand Oceans Group has been very sluggish. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to improve at all. You'd much rather the company wasn't bleeding earnings if you still believe in the business. 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 China Overseas Grand Oceans Group

How Is China Overseas Grand Oceans Group's Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, China Overseas Grand Oceans Group would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 51%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 38% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the ten analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 16% per annum over the next three years. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 15% per year, which is not materially different.

With this information, we find it odd that China Overseas Grand Oceans Group is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Final Word

While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

Our examination of China Overseas Grand Oceans Group's analyst forecasts revealed that its market-matching earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E as much as we would have predicted. There could be some unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the outlook. It appears some are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide more support to the share price.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 3 warning signs for China Overseas Grand Oceans Group (1 is concerning!) that we have uncovered.

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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