Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600285) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 27% gain in the last month alone. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 62% in the last year.

Even after such a large jump in price, Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 24.6x, since almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 33x and even P/E's higher than 62x 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.

Recent times have been advantageous for Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, 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.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as low as Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 27%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 79% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 7.8% during the coming year according to the only analyst following the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 39% growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's understandable that Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

The Key Takeaway

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical's P/E close to the market median. 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 Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical'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.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Henan Lingrui Pharmaceutical you should know about.

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.