The Suntar Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. (SHSE:688101) share price has fared very poorly over the last month, falling by a substantial 32%. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 36% in that time.

Following the heavy fall in price, given about half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 27x, you may consider Suntar Environmental Technology as an attractive investment with its 14.6x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

As an illustration, earnings have deteriorated at Suntar Environmental Technology over the last year, which is not ideal at all. 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.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 11% decrease to the company's bottom line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 8.2% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 41% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term earnings results is a sobering picture.

In light of this, it's understandable that Suntar Environmental Technology's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. 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.

The Final Word

Suntar Environmental Technology's recently weak share price has pulled its P/E below most other companies. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Suntar Environmental Technology revealed its shrinking earnings over the medium-term are contributing to its low P/E, given the market is set to grow. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. If recent medium-term earnings trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.

It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for Suntar Environmental Technology that you need to take into consideration.

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

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