Qingdao Tianneng Heavy Industries Co.,Ltd's (SZSE:300569) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 25x 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. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

For instance, Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd's receding earnings in recent times would have to be some food for thought. It might be that many expect the disappointing earnings performance to continue or accelerate, which has repressed the P/E. 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.

View our latest analysis for Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd

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

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 5.9% decrease to the company's bottom line. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 53% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 43% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term earnings results is a sobering picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. There's potential for the P/E to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its profitability.

What We Can Learn From Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd's P/E?

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.

As we suspected, our examination of Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd revealed its shrinking earnings over the medium-term are contributing to its low P/E, given the market is set to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 2 warning signs for Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Qingdao Tianneng Heavy IndustriesLtd, 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.