With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 12.9x Liaoning Port Co., Ltd. (HKG:2880) may be sending bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Hong Kong have P/E ratios under 10x and even P/E's lower than 6x 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 as high as it is.

For example, consider that Liaoning Port's financial performance has been pretty ordinary lately as earnings growth is non-existent. It might be that many are expecting an improvement to the uninspiring earnings performance over the coming period, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Liaoning Port

Although there are no analyst estimates available for Liaoning Port, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

How Is Liaoning Port's Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like Liaoning Port's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's bottom line as the year before. This isn't what shareholders were looking for as it means they've been left with a 45% decline in EPS over the last three years in total. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 21% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term earnings results is a sobering picture.

In light of this, it's alarming that Liaoning Port's P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent earnings trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

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 Liaoning Port currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its recent earnings have been in decline over the medium-term. When we see earnings heading backwards and underperforming the market forecasts, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the high P/E lower. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Liaoning Port that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Liaoning Port, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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