Wah Fu Education Group Limited (NASDAQ:WAFU) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 27% after a shaky period beforehand. The bad news is that even after the stocks recovery in the last 30 days, shareholders are still underwater by about 9.2% over the last year.

Even after such a large jump in price, given about half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may still consider Wah Fu Education Group as an attractive investment with its 10.6x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Wah Fu Education Group has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings at a solid pace. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this respectable 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.

See our latest analysis for Wah Fu Education Group

Is There Any Growth For Wah Fu Education Group?

Wah Fu Education Group's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 22% gain to the company's bottom line. Still, EPS has barely risen at all from three years ago in total, which is not ideal. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 10% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker based on recent medium-term annualised earnings results.

With this information, we can see why Wah Fu Education Group is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Final Word

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Wah Fu Education Group's P/E close to the market median. 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.

We've established that Wah Fu Education Group maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless the recent medium-term 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 - Wah Fu Education Group has 2 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Wah Fu Education Group. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.