With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 10x Longjian Road&Bridge Co.,Ltd (SHSE:600853) may be sending very bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 27x and even P/E's higher than 48x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Earnings have risen firmly for Longjian Road&BridgeLtd recently, which is pleasing to see. It might be that many expect the respectable earnings performance to degrade substantially, 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.

Is There Any Growth For Longjian Road&BridgeLtd?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Longjian Road&BridgeLtd would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 24%. As a result, it also grew EPS by 18% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has actually done a good job of growing earnings over that time.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 41% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's understandable that Longjian Road&BridgeLtd's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on to something they believe will continue to trail the bourse.

What We Can Learn From Longjian Road&BridgeLtd'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.

We've established that Longjian Road&BridgeLtd 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.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider and we've discovered 2 warning signs for Longjian Road&BridgeLtd (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on 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.