When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may consider Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOXA) as an attractive investment with its 14.4x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

There hasn't been much to differentiate Fox's and the market's earnings growth lately. It might be that many expect the mediocre earnings performance to degrade, which has repressed the P/E. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Check out our latest analysis for Fox

How Is Fox's Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Fox would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, the company posted a result that saw barely any deviation from a year ago. This isn't what shareholders were looking for as it means they've been left with a 18% decline in EPS over the last three years in total. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 24% per annum over the next three years. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 13% each year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we find it odd that Fox is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Key Takeaway

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 Fox currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. There could be some major unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the positive outlook. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Fox that 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.