With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 68.3x ASMPT Limited (HKG:522) may be sending very 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. However, the P/E might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, ASMPT's earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. 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.

View our latest analysis for ASMPT

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on ASMPT.

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

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

Taking a look back first, the company's earnings per share growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 52%. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 89% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 85% per annum as estimated by the analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why ASMPT 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

While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

We've established that ASMPT maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 2 warning signs for ASMPT that we have uncovered.

You might be able to find a better investment than ASMPT. 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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