Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 27% gain in the last month alone. The bad news is that even after the stocks recovery in the last 30 days, shareholders are still underwater by about 8.9% over the last year.

Even after such a large jump in price, Sally Beauty Holdings may still be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 7.3x, since almost half of all companies in the United States have P/E ratios greater than 17x and even P/E's higher than 32x 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.

Sally Beauty Holdings certainly has been doing a good job lately as its earnings growth has been positive while most other companies have been seeing their earnings go backwards. 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.

See our latest analysis for Sally Beauty Holdings

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as depressed as Sally Beauty Holdings' is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market decidedly.

Taking a look back first, we see that there was hardly any earnings per share growth to speak of for the company over the past year. However, a few strong years before that means that it was still able to grow EPS by an impressive 74% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 7.0% during the coming year according to the seven analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 10% growth , the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.

With this information, we can see why Sally Beauty Holdings is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

The Bottom Line On Sally Beauty Holdings' P/E

Even after such a strong price move, Sally Beauty Holdings' P/E still trails the rest of the market significantly. 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 Sally Beauty Holdings maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. 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.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 1 warning sign for Sally Beauty Holdings that we have uncovered.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Sally Beauty Holdings, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.