Old Republic International Corporation's (NYSE:ORI) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 9.5x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 18x and even P/E's above 34x 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 limited.

Recent times have been pleasing for Old Republic International as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, possibly more than the market, which has repressed the P/E. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

How Is Old Republic International's Growth Trending?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 11% last year. Ultimately though, it couldn't turn around the poor performance of the prior period, with EPS shrinking 23% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 10% as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. With the market predicted to deliver 15% growth , that's a disappointing outcome.

With this information, we are not surprised that Old Republic International is trading at a P/E lower than the market. 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 the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Bottom Line On Old Republic International's P/E

While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

We've established that Old Republic International maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Old Republic International (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about.

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

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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.