Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE:301077) Shares Fly 29% But Investors Aren't Buying For Growth

Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE:301077) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 29% gain and recovering from prior weakness. But the gains over the last month weren't enough to make shareholders whole, as the share price is still down 2.7% in the last twelve months.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, given about half the companies in China have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 31x, you may still consider Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group as an attractive investment with its 21.9x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Earnings have risen firmly for Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group recently, which is pleasing to see. It might be that many expect the respectable earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

See our latest analysis for Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group

Although there are no analyst estimates available for Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 24%. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen a very unpleasant 16% drop in EPS in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the market is expected to grow by 38% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term earnings decline into perspective.

With this information, we are not surprised that Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent earnings trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Key Takeaway

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group's P/E close to the market median. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group revealed its shrinking earnings over the medium-term are contributing to its low P/E, given the market is set to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Plus, you should also learn about these 3 warning signs we've spotted with Zhejiang Chinastars New Materials Group (including 2 which shouldn't be ignored).

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.