It's A Story Of Risk Vs Reward With The Imamura Securities Co., Ltd. (TYO:7175)

With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 5.9x The Imamura Securities Co., Ltd. (TYO:7175) may be sending very bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Japan have P/E ratios greater than 18x and even P/E's higher than 31x are not unusual. 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.

Recent times have been quite advantageous for Imamura Securities 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.

See our latest analysis for Imamura Securities

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

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as depressed as Imamura Securities' is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market decidedly.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 188%. As a result, it also grew EPS by 23% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably been satisfied with the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 2.0% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Imamura Securities' P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders believe the recent performance has exceeded its limits and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

What We Can Learn From Imamura Securities' P/E?

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.

Our examination of Imamura Securities revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't contributing to its P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current market expectations. 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.

It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for Imamura Securities (1 can't be ignored!) that you need to take into consideration.

If you're unsure about the strength of Imamura Securities' business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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