Despite an already strong run, Minmetals Capital Company Limited (SHSE:600390) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 29% in the last thirty days. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 65%.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, given about half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 37x, you may still consider Minmetals Capital as an attractive investment with its 24.9x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times haven't been advantageous for Minmetals Capital as its earnings have been falling quicker than most other companies. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to improve at all. You'd much rather the company wasn't bleeding earnings if you still believe in the business. If not, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Is There Any Growth For Minmetals Capital?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the market for P/E ratios like Minmetals Capital's to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 66%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 57% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the sole analyst covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 92% over the next year. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 41%, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we find it odd that Minmetals Capital is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Bottom Line On Minmetals Capital's P/E

Despite Minmetals Capital's shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

We've established that Minmetals Capital currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future earnings could see a lot of volatility.

Having said that, be aware Minmetals Capital is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

If you're unsure about the strength of Minmetals Capital's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.