When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may consider USANA Health Sciences, Inc. (NYSE:USNA) as an attractive investment with its 14.6x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

USANA Health Sciences has been struggling lately as its earnings have declined faster 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.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 5.1% decrease to the company's bottom line. This means it has also seen a slide in earnings over the longer-term as EPS is down 47% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the two analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 12% over the next year. With the market predicted to deliver 12% growth , that's a disappointing outcome.

With this information, we are not surprised that USANA Health Sciences is trading at a P/E lower than the market. However, shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

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.

We've established that USANA Health Sciences 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.

Having said that, be aware USANA Health Sciences is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is concerning.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.