Wai Chi Holdings Company Limited (HKG:1305) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 27% gain and recovering from prior weakness. The last month tops off a massive increase of 139% in the last year.

Although its price has surged higher, Wai Chi Holdings may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 5.7x, since almost half of all companies in Hong Kong have P/E ratios greater than 9x and even P/E's higher than 19x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

Wai Chi Holdings certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. 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.

See our latest analysis for Wai Chi Holdings

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 66% last year. The latest three year period has also seen a 14% overall rise in EPS, aided extensively by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been respectable for the company.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 17% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's understandable that Wai Chi Holdings' P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Final Word

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Wai Chi Holdings' P/E close to the market median. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

We've established that Wai Chi Holdings maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider market forecast, 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. If recent medium-term earnings trends continue, it's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Wai Chi Holdings, and understanding should be part of your investment process.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a P/E below 20x.

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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.