Despite an already strong run, Frontage Holdings Corporation (HKG:1521) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 59% in the last thirty days. Not all shareholders will be feeling jubilant, since the share price is still down a very disappointing 24% in the last twelve months.

After such a large jump in price, given close to half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 9x, you may consider Frontage Holdings as a stock to avoid entirely with its 68.7x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.

Frontage Holdings could be doing better as its earnings have been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive earnings growth. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think this poor earnings performance will turn the corner. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

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How Is Frontage Holdings' Growth Trending?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as steep as Frontage Holdings' is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market decidedly.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 65%. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 72% overall. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 76% per year as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 12% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Frontage Holdings' P/E sits above the majority of other companies. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

The Final Word

Frontage Holdings' P/E is flying high just like its stock has during the last month. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Frontage Holdings' 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.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Frontage Holdings that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Frontage Holdings. 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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