Tsui Wah Holdings Limited (HKG:1314) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 31% gain in the last month alone. Unfortunately, despite the strong performance over the last month, the full year gain of 3.0% isn't as attractive.
Even after such a large jump in price, there still wouldn't be many who think Tsui Wah Holdings' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 8.6x is worth a mention when the median P/E in Hong Kong is similar at about 10x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/E without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.
For example, consider that Tsui Wah Holdings' financial performance has been poor lately as its earnings have been in decline. It might be that many expect the company to put the disappointing earnings performance behind them over the coming period, which has kept the P/E from falling. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.
Check out our latest analysis for Tsui Wah Holdings
How Is Tsui Wah Holdings' Growth Trending?
The only time you'd be comfortable seeing a P/E like Tsui Wah Holdings' is when the company's growth is tracking the market closely.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 35% decrease to the company's bottom line. At least EPS has managed not to go completely backwards from three years ago in aggregate, thanks to the earlier period of growth. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.
Weighing that recent medium-term earnings trajectory against the broader market's one-year forecast for expansion of 21% shows it's noticeably less attractive on an annualised basis.
In light of this, it's curious that Tsui Wah Holdings' P/E sits in line with the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are willing to pay up for exposure to the stock. They may be setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/E falls to levels more in line with recent growth rates.
The Bottom Line On Tsui Wah Holdings' P/E
Tsui Wah Holdings' stock has a lot of momentum behind it lately, which has brought its P/E level with the market. We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.
Our examination of Tsui Wah Holdings revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't impacting its P/E as much as we would have predicted, given they look worse than current market expectations. Right now we are uncomfortable with the P/E as this earnings performance isn't likely to support a more positive sentiment for long. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, it's challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.
Before you take the next step, you should know about the 4 warning signs for Tsui Wah Holdings that we have uncovered.
You might be able to find a better investment than Tsui Wah Holdings. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).
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