When close to half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 9x, you may consider CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) Company Limited (HKG:317) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 70.8x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/E.

As an illustration, earnings have deteriorated at CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think the company will still do enough to outperform the broader market in the near future. If not, then existing shareholders may be quite nervous about the viability of the share price.

See our latest analysis for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group)

Although there are no analyst estimates available for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group), take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as steep as CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group)'s is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market decidedly.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 69% decrease to the company's bottom line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 40% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 22% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term earnings results is a sobering picture.

With this information, we find it concerning that CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) is trading at a P/E higher than the market. It seems most investors are ignoring the recent poor growth rate and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. There's a very good chance existing shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/E falls to levels more in line with the recent negative growth rates.

The Key Takeaway

Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

Our examination of CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) revealed its shrinking earnings over the medium-term aren't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given the market is set to grow. Right now we are increasingly uncomfortable with the high P/E as this earnings performance is highly unlikely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group) that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (Group), explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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