Barak Valley Cements Limited's (NSE:BVCL) Shares Leap 28% Yet They're Still Not Telling The Full Story

Barak Valley Cements Limited (NSE:BVCL) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 28% gain and recovering from prior weakness. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 89% in the last year.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Barak Valley Cements may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 20.2x, since almost half of all companies in India have P/E ratios greater than 33x and even P/E's higher than 64x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times have been quite advantageous for Barak Valley Cements as its earnings have been rising very briskly. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually 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.

View our latest analysis for Barak Valley Cements

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

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

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as low as Barak Valley Cements' is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 39% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 209% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Comparing that to the market, which is only predicted to deliver 25% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is stronger based on recent medium-term annualised earnings results.

With this information, we find it odd that Barak Valley Cements is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently some shareholders believe the recent performance has exceeded its limits and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Final Word

Despite Barak Valley Cements' shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. We'd say the price-to-earnings ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that Barak Valley Cements currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is higher than the wider market forecast. When we see strong earnings with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. 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.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Barak Valley Cements that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on 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.

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