The Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE:NOAH) share price has fared very poorly over the last month, falling by a substantial 28%. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 40% share price drop.

Since its price has dipped substantially, given about half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 16x, you may consider Noah Holdings as an attractive investment with its 8.1x 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 limited.

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Noah Holdings hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining earnings compare poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth on average. It seems that many are expecting the dour earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Noah Holdings

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Is There Any Growth For Noah Holdings?

Noah Holdings' P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 53% decrease to the company's bottom line. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 63% 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 16% per annum as estimated by the five analysts watching the company. With the market only predicted to deliver 11% per annum, the company is positioned for a stronger earnings result.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Noah Holdings' P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Bottom Line On Noah Holdings' P/E

Noah Holdings' recently weak share price has pulled its P/E below most other companies. 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 Noah Holdings' analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. There could be some major unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the positive outlook. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

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

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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