Investors Give Suraj Limited (NSE:SURAJLTD) Shares A 27% Hiding

Suraj Limited (NSE:SURAJLTD) shares have had a horrible month, losing 27% after a relatively good period beforehand. Longer-term shareholders will rue the drop in the share price, since it's now virtually flat for the year after a promising few quarters.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, there still wouldn't be many who think Suraj's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 27.6x is worth a mention when the median P/E in India is similar at about 29x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/E without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.

As an illustration, earnings have deteriorated at Suraj over the last year, which is not ideal at all. It might be that many expect the company to put the disappointing earnings performance behind them over the coming period, which has kept the P/E from falling. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Suraj

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

Is There Some Growth For Suraj?

Suraj's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver moderate growth, and importantly, perform in line with the market.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 10%. Still, the latest three year period has seen an excellent 775% overall rise in EPS, in spite of its unsatisfying short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a very good job of growing earnings over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Comparing that to the market, which is only predicted to deliver 26% 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 interesting that Suraj is trading at a fairly similar P/E to the market. Apparently some shareholders believe the recent performance is at its limits and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Bottom Line On Suraj's P/E

Following Suraj's share price tumble, its P/E is now hanging on to the median market P/E. It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

We've established that Suraj currently trades on a lower than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is higher than the wider market forecast. There could be some unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching this positive performance. It appears some are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because the persistence of these recent medium-term conditions would normally provide a boost to the share price.

Having said that, be aware Suraj is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, you should know about.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Suraj, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.