Why Investors Shouldn't Be Surprised By MICREED Co.,Ltd.'s (TSE:7687) 27% Share Price Plunge

To the annoyance of some shareholders, MICREED Co.,Ltd. (TSE:7687) shares are down a considerable 27% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. Looking back over the past twelve months the stock has been a solid performer regardless, with a gain of 11%.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, given about half the companies in Japan have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 14x, you may still consider MICREEDLtd as an attractive investment with its 11.7x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

Recent times have been advantageous for MICREEDLtd as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings performance might be less impressive moving forward. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

See our latest analysis for MICREEDLtd

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

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

MICREEDLtd's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 65% last year. However, the latest three year period hasn't been as great in aggregate as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the sole analyst covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 67% over the next year. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 9.6%, which paints a poor picture.

In light of this, it's understandable that MICREEDLtd's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/E has reached a floor yet with earnings going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Key Takeaway

The softening of MICREEDLtd's shares means its P/E is now sitting at a pretty low level. 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 MICREEDLtd maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for MICREEDLtd that you need to take into consideration.

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

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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.