COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. (HKG:1919) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 32% gain in the last month alone. Looking further back, the 17% rise over the last twelve months isn't too bad notwithstanding the strength over the last 30 days.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, given about half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 10x, you may still consider COSCO SHIPPING Holdings as an attractive investment with its 7.2x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

COSCO SHIPPING Holdings could be doing better as its earnings have been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive earnings growth. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to get any better. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

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

COSCO SHIPPING 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.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 74%. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 10% overall. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to slump, contracting by 9.7% per year during the coming three years according to the nine analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 16% growth per annum, that's a disappointing outcome.

With this information, we are not surprised that COSCO SHIPPING 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. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Holdings' P/E?

COSCO SHIPPING Holdings' stock might have been given a solid boost, but its P/E certainly hasn't reached any great heights. 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 COSCO SHIPPING Holdings 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. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

You need to take note of risks, for example - COSCO SHIPPING Holdings has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.

If you're unsure about the strength of COSCO SHIPPING 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.