Earnings Tell The Story For Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited (HKG:1888)

When close to half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 12x, you may consider Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited (HKG:1888) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 23.2x 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 so lofty.

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With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Kingboard Laminates Holdings has been doing relatively well. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to persist, which has raised the P/E. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

View our latest analysis for Kingboard Laminates Holdings

Keen to find out how analysts think Kingboard Laminates Holdings' future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far outperform the market for P/E ratios like Kingboard Laminates Holdings' to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 26% last year. Still, incredibly EPS has fallen 71% in total from three years ago, which is quite disappointing. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 24% per year as estimated by the four analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 14% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Kingboard Laminates Holdings is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

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.

We've established that Kingboard Laminates Holdings maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/E as they are quite confident future earnings aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

Plus, you should also learn about these 2 warning signs we've spotted with Kingboard Laminates Holdings.

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.