It's not a stretch to say that Haw Par Corporation Limited's (SGX:H02) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 9.9x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" compared to the market in Singapore, where the median P/E ratio is around 11x. While this might not raise any eyebrows, if the P/E ratio is not justified investors could be missing out on a potential opportunity or ignoring looming disappointment.

With earnings growth that's exceedingly strong of late, Haw Par has been doing very well. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to wane, which has kept the P/E from rising. 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 not quite in favour.

View our latest analysis for Haw Par

We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Haw Par's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Is There Some Growth For Haw Par?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should be matching the market for P/E ratios like Haw Par's to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 34% last year. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 187% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Comparing that to the market, which is only predicted to deliver 8.2% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is stronger based on recent medium-term annualised earnings results.

In light of this, it's curious that Haw Par's P/E sits in line with the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders believe the recent performance is at its limits and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Key Takeaway

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.

Our examination of Haw Par revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't contributing to its P/E as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current market expectations. When we see strong earnings with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued if recent medium-term earnings trends continue, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for Haw Par that you need to take into consideration.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Haw Par. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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