California Nanotechnologies Corp.'s (CVE:CNO) Shares Climb 32% But Its Business Is Yet to Catch Up

Despite an already strong run, California Nanotechnologies Corp. (CVE:CNO) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 32% in the last thirty days. The annual gain comes to 265% following the latest surge, making investors sit up and take notice.

After such a large jump in price, given around half the companies in Canada have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 14x, you may consider California Nanotechnologies as a stock to potentially avoid with its 20.4x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

California Nanotechnologies certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing earnings at a really rapid pace. The P/E is probably high because investors think this strong earnings growth will be enough to outperform the broader market in the near future. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Check out our latest analysis for California Nanotechnologies

Although there are no analyst estimates available for California Nanotechnologies, 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?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, California Nanotechnologies would need to produce impressive growth in excess of the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 114% gain to the company's bottom line. However, the latest three year period hasn't been as great in aggregate as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. Therefore, it's fair to say that earnings growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Weighing that recent medium-term earnings trajectory against the broader market's one-year forecast for expansion of 18% shows it's noticeably less attractive on an annualised basis.

With this information, we find it concerning that California Nanotechnologies is trading at a P/E higher than the market. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent earnings trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

What We Can Learn From California Nanotechnologies' P/E?

The large bounce in California Nanotechnologies' shares has lifted the company's P/E to a fairly high level. 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 California Nanotechnologies currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider market forecast. When we see weak earnings with slower than market growth, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the high P/E lower. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

Having said that, be aware California Nanotechnologies is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable.

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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.