Those holding China Aerospace Times Electronics CO., LTD. (SHSE:600879) shares would be relieved that the share price has rebounded 26% in the last thirty days, but it needs to keep going to repair the recent damage it has caused to investor portfolios. The bad news is that even after the stocks recovery in the last 30 days, shareholders are still underwater by about 8.5% over the last year.
After such a large jump in price, China Aerospace Times Electronics' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 38.6x might make it look like a sell right now compared to the market in China, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 29x and even P/E's below 18x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's as high as it is.
With earnings that are retreating more than the market's of late, China Aerospace Times Electronics has been very sluggish. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think the company will turn things around completely and accelerate past most others in the market. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.
If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on China Aerospace Times Electronics.
How Is China Aerospace Times Electronics' Growth Trending?
There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like China Aerospace Times Electronics' to be considered reasonable.
Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 4.4%. Regardless, EPS has managed to lift by a handy 13% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the earlier period of growth. Accordingly, while they would have preferred to keep the run going, shareholders would be roughly satisfied with the medium-term rates of earnings growth.
Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 17% during the coming year according to the four analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 41%, which is noticeably more attractive.
With this information, we find it concerning that China Aerospace Times Electronics is trading at a P/E higher than the market. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than analysts indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. There's a good chance these shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/E falls to levels more in line with the growth outlook.
The Key Takeaway
China Aerospace Times Electronics shares have received a push in the right direction, but its P/E is elevated too. 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 China Aerospace Times Electronics currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its forecast growth is lower than the wider market. Right now we are increasingly uncomfortable with the high P/E as the predicted future earnings aren't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless these conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.
There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 2 warning signs for China Aerospace Times Electronics 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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