With a median price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of close to 11x in Hong Kong, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Company Limited's (HKG:1066) P/E ratio of 11.6x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/E without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.

Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining earnings compare poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth on average. It might be that many expect the dour earnings performance to strengthen positively, which has kept the P/E from falling. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a relatively elevated price for a company with this sort of growth profile.

See our latest analysis for Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer

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

Does Growth Match The P/E?

The only time you'd be comfortable seeing a P/E like Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer's is when the company's growth is tracking the market closely.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 22% decrease to the company's bottom line. This means it has also seen a slide in earnings over the longer-term as EPS is down 18% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the eight analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 8.4% per year over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 12% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we find it interesting that Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer is trading at a fairly similar P/E to the market. Apparently many investors in the company are less bearish than analysts indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock right now. Maintaining these prices will be difficult to achieve as this level of earnings growth is likely to weigh down the shares 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.

Our examination of Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook isn't impacting its P/E as much as we would have predicted. When we see a weak earnings outlook with slower than market growth, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the moderate P/E lower. Unless these conditions improve, it's challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 1 warning sign for Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer that you should be aware of.

You might be able to find a better investment than Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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