AVIC Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd.'s (SHSE:600765) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 20.9x 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 34x and even P/E's above 62x 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 pleasing for AVIC Heavy Machinery as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company's earnings are going to fall away like everyone else's soon. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for AVIC Heavy Machinery

Is There Any Growth For AVIC Heavy Machinery?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 9.9%. This was backed up an excellent period prior to see EPS up by 228% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 44% as estimated by the five analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 44%, which is not materially different.

With this information, we find it odd that AVIC Heavy Machinery is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It may be that most investors are not convinced the company can achieve future growth expectations.

What We Can Learn From AVIC Heavy Machinery's P/E?

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 AVIC Heavy Machinery currently trades on a lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is in line with the wider market. There could be some unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the outlook. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

You always need to take note of risks, for example - AVIC Heavy Machinery has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and 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.