Shangri-La Asia Limited (HKG:69) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 27% after a shaky period beforehand. Unfortunately, despite the strong performance over the last month, the full year gain of 7.5% isn't as attractive.

After such a large jump in price, Shangri-La Asia's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 18.2x might make it look like a strong sell right now compared to the market in Hong Kong, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 9x and even P/E's below 5x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/E.

Recent times have been advantageous for Shangri-La Asia as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to persist, which has raised the P/E. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Check out our latest analysis for Shangri-La Asia

Keen to find out how analysts think Shangri-La Asia's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Is There Enough Growth For Shangri-La Asia?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far outperform the market for P/E ratios like Shangri-La Asia's to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow earnings per share by a handy 13% last year. Still, EPS has barely risen at all in aggregate from three years ago, which is not ideal. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 36% per annum during the coming three years according to the six analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 12% per annum, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why Shangri-La Asia is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

The Key Takeaway

Shares in Shangri-La Asia have built up some good momentum lately, which has really inflated its P/E. 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 Shangri-La Asia's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

You always need to take note of risks, for example - Shangri-La Asia has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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