Puxing Energy Limited (HKG:90) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 32% gain and recovering from prior weakness. Longer-term shareholders would be thankful for the recovery in the share price since it's now virtually flat for the year after the recent bounce.
In spite of the firm bounce in price, Puxing Energy's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 2.1x might still make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in Hong Kong, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 10x and even P/E's above 20x are quite common. However, the P/E might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
Puxing Energy certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. It might be that many expect the strong 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.
Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on Puxing Energy will help you shine a light on its historical performance.
Is There Any Growth For Puxing Energy?
In order to justify its P/E ratio, Puxing Energy would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 45% last year. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen a very unpleasant 39% drop in EPS in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.
In contrast to the company, the rest of the market is expected to grow by 23% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term earnings decline into perspective.
In light of this, it's understandable that Puxing Energy'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. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent earnings trends are already weighing down the shares.
The Bottom Line On Puxing Energy's P/E
Shares in Puxing Energy are going to need a lot more upward momentum to get the company's P/E out of its slump. 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 Puxing Energy 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.
You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 3 warning signs for Puxing Energy you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.
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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. 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.
对这篇文章有反馈吗?担心内容吗?直接联系我们。或者,发送电子邮件给编辑组(网址为)simplywallst.com。 Simply Wall St 的这篇文章本质上是笼统的。我们仅使用公正的方法提供基于历史数据和分析师预测的评论,我们的文章并非旨在提供财务建议。它不构成买入或卖出任何股票的建议,也没有考虑到您的目标或财务状况。我们的目标是为您提供由基本数据驱动的长期重点分析。请注意,我们的分析可能不会考虑最新的价格敏感型公司公告或定性材料。华尔街只是没有持有上述任何股票的头寸。