Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.'s (SHSE:600690) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 11.8x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in China, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 35x and even P/E's above 63x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.

With its earnings growth in positive territory compared to the declining earnings of most other companies, Haier Smart Home has been doing quite well of late. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Haier Smart Home

How Is Haier Smart Home's Growth Trending?

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 9.4%. This was backed up an excellent period prior to see EPS up by 67% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 11% per annum over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 22% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Haier Smart Home is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

The Bottom Line On Haier Smart Home's P/E

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

As we suspected, our examination of Haier Smart Home's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for Haier Smart Home with six simple checks on some of these key factors.

If you're unsure about the strength of Haier Smart Home'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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