Organon & Co.'s (NYSE:OGN) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 3x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 20x and even P/E's above 35x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.

Organon certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more 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.

See our latest analysis for Organon

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

How Is Organon's Growth Trending?

Organon's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 121% gain to the company's bottom line. Despite this strong recent growth, it's still struggling to catch up as its three-year EPS frustratingly shrank by 16% overall. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 33% as estimated by the seven analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 15%, which paints a poor picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that Organon 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. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that Organon 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.

Having said that, be aware Organon is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

If you're unsure about the strength of Organon's 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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