SilverBow Resources, Inc. (NYSE:SBOW) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 26% after a shaky period beforehand. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 69% in the last year.

Although its price has surged higher, given about half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 17x, you may still consider SilverBow Resources as a highly attractive investment with its 3x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.

SilverBow Resources 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. If you still like the company, you'd want its earnings trajectory to turn around before making any decisions. If not, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

How Is SilverBow Resources' Growth Trending?

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

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 26%. Unfortunately, that's brought it right back to where it started three years ago with EPS growth being virtually non-existent overall during that time. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to slump, contracting by 3.7% per year during the coming three years according to the six analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 10% each year, which paints a poor picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that SilverBow Resources 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. There's potential for the P/E to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its profitability.

What We Can Learn From SilverBow Resources' P/E?

Shares in SilverBow Resources are going to need a lot more upward momentum to get the company's P/E out of its slump. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

We've established that SilverBow Resources maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 4 warning signs for SilverBow Resources you should be aware of, and 2 of them don't sit too well with us.

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 low P/E.

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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.