Oil India Limited's (NSE:OIL) Price Is Right But Growth Is Lacking After Shares Rocket 28%

Oil India Limited (NSE:OIL) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 28% share price jump in the last month. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 82% in the last year.

Although its price has surged higher, given about half the companies in India have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 30x, you may still consider Oil India as a highly attractive investment with its 7x 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 limited.

While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, Oil India's earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. It seems that many are expecting the dour earnings performance to persist, which has repressed the P/E. If you still 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 Oil India

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

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

Oil India's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling earnings, and importantly, perform much worse than the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 28%. However, a few very strong years before that means that it was still able to grow EPS by an impressive 116% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, while they would have preferred to keep the run going, shareholders would probably welcome the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 0.06% per annum during the coming three years according to the nine analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 19% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's understandable that Oil India's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Bottom Line On Oil India's P/E

Even after such a strong price move, Oil India's P/E still trails the rest of the market significantly. 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 Oil India 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.

Having said that, be aware Oil India is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

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

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.