Johnson Electric Holdings Limited (HKG:179) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 38% share price jump in the last month. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 36% in the last year.
In spite of the firm bounce in price, Johnson Electric Holdings' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 7.2x might still make it look like a buy right now compared to the market in Hong Kong, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 11x and even P/E's above 22x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.
With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Johnson Electric Holdings has been doing relatively well. 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.
View our latest analysis for Johnson Electric Holdings
Does Growth Match The Low P/E?
Johnson Electric Holdings' P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 6.8% last year. The solid recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 13% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably been satisfied with the medium-term rates of earnings growth.
Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 4.0% each year as estimated by the two analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 13% per year, which paints a poor picture.
With this information, we are not surprised that Johnson Electric Holdings 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 Final Word
Despite Johnson Electric Holdings' shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. 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 Johnson Electric Holdings 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.
You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Johnson Electric Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored.
If you're unsure about the strength of Johnson Electric Holdings' 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.