BAIC Motor Corporation Limited (HKG:1958) shareholders won't be pleased to see that the share price has had a very rough month, dropping 27% and undoing the prior period's positive performance. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 24% in that time.

Although its price has dipped substantially, given around half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 10x, you may still consider BAIC Motor as a stock to potentially avoid with its 14x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the elevated P/E.

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BAIC Motor could be doing better as its earnings have been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive earnings growth. It might be that many expect the dour earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be extremely nervous about the viability of the share price.

View our latest analysis for BAIC Motor

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

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as high as BAIC Motor's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market.

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 68%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 75% in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 62% per annum during the coming three years according to the six analysts following the company. With the market only predicted to deliver 14% per annum, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

With this information, we can see why BAIC Motor 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 Bottom Line On BAIC Motor's P/E

BAIC Motor's P/E hasn't come down all the way after its stock plunged. It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

As we suspected, our examination of BAIC Motor's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook is contributing to its high P/E. 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.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for BAIC Motor you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.

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