Earnings Working Against Hannover Rück SE's (ETR:HNR1) Share Price

With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 12.4x Hannover Rück SE (ETR:HNR1) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Germany have P/E ratios greater than 19x and even P/E's higher than 34x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

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Recent times have been advantageous for Hannover Rück as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings performance might be less impressive moving forward. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Check out our latest analysis for Hannover Rück

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

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

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 9.7%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 66% overall rise in EPS, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 5.2% each year as estimated by the analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to expand by 17% each year, which is noticeably more attractive.

With this information, we can see why Hannover Rück is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

What We Can Learn From Hannover Rück's P/E?

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 Hannover Rück maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

The company's balance sheet is another key area for risk analysis. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Hannover Rück with six simple checks.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than Hannover Rück. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.