Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad's (KLSE:JTIASA) Shares Bounce 29% But Its Business Still Trails The Market

Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad (KLSE:JTIASA) shareholders are no doubt pleased to see that the share price has bounced 29% in the last month, although it is still struggling to make up recently lost ground. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 11% over that time.

Even after such a large jump in price, given close to half the companies in Malaysia have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 14x, you may still consider Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad as a highly attractive investment with its 4.4x 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.

Recent times have been advantageous for Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad 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 Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad

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Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad'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 growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 321%. 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.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 30% per annum as estimated by the one analyst watching the company. That's not great when the rest of the market is expected to grow by 8.9% per year.

With this information, we are not surprised that Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad is trading at a P/E lower than the market. However, shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Bottom Line On Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad's P/E

Shares in Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad are going to need a lot more upward momentum to get the company's P/E out of its slump. 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 Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad 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. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad (1 is concerning) you should be aware of.

You might be able to find a better investment than Jaya Tiasa Holdings Berhad. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20x (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.