When close to half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 36x, you may consider LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (SHSE:601012) as a highly attractive investment with its 11.2x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.

Recent times have been pleasing for LONGi Green Energy Technology 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 LONGi Green Energy Technology

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

LONGi Green Energy Technology's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 24% gain to the company's bottom line. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 84% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 13% per annum as estimated by the analysts watching the company. With the market predicted to deliver 23% growth per annum, the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

In light of this, it's understandable that LONGi Green Energy Technology's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Final Word

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 LONGi Green Energy Technology 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.

You need to take note of risks, for example - LONGi Green Energy Technology has 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

If you're unsure about the strength of LONGi Green Energy Technology'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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