BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited (HKG:1522) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 26% share price jump in the last month. Not all shareholders will be feeling jubilant, since the share price is still down a very disappointing 13% in the last twelve months.
Even after such a large jump in price, BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3.8x 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.
As an illustration, earnings have deteriorated at BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company won't do enough to avoid underperforming the broader market in the near future. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
See our latest analysis for BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings
How Is BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' Growth Trending?
BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 2.8% decrease to the company's bottom line. Unfortunately, that's brought it right back to where it started three years ago with EPS growth being virtually non-existent overall during that time. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.
This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 21% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.
In light of this, it's understandable that BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on to something they believe will continue to trail the bourse.
What We Can Learn From BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings' P/E?
Shares in BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings are going to need a lot more upward momentum to get the company's P/E out of its slump. 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 BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.
Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 2 warning signs for BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings that you should be aware of.
If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.
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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.