Further Upside For Kamat Hotels (India) Limited (NSE:KAMATHOTEL) Shares Could Introduce Price Risks After 25% Bounce

Kamat Hotels (India) Limited (NSE:KAMATHOTEL) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 25% share price jump in the last month. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 43%.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, given about half the companies in India have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 28x, you may still consider Kamat Hotels (India) as an attractive investment with its 18.4x 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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It looks like earnings growth has deserted Kamat Hotels (India) recently, which is not something to boast about. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this benign earnings growth rate will likely underperform the broader market in the near future. 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 Kamat Hotels (India)

Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on Kamat Hotels (India) will help you shine a light on its historical performance.

Is There Any Growth For Kamat Hotels (India)?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the market for P/E ratios like Kamat Hotels (India)'s to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that there was hardly any earnings per share growth to speak of for the company over the past year. Although pleasingly EPS has lifted 1,090% in aggregate from three years ago, notwithstanding the last 12 months. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 25% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it odd that Kamat Hotels (India) is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It looks like most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.

What We Can Learn From Kamat Hotels (India)'s P/E?

Despite Kamat Hotels (India)'s shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. 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 Kamat Hotels (India) currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is higher than the wider market forecast. There could be some major unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching this positive performance. At least price risks look to be very low if recent medium-term earnings trends continue, but investors seem to think future earnings could see a lot of volatility.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 1 warning sign for Kamat Hotels (India) that you need to be mindful of.

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.