Sino Horizon Holdings Limited's (TPE:2923) 36% Price Boost Is Out Of Tune With Earnings

Sino Horizon Holdings Limited (TPE:2923) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 36% share price jump in the last month. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 90% in the last year.

Following the firm bounce in price, given close to half the companies in Taiwan have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 19x, you may consider Sino Horizon Holdings as a stock to avoid entirely with its 58.9x P/E ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/E.

With earnings growth that's exceedingly strong of late, Sino Horizon Holdings has been doing very well. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to beat most other companies over the coming period, which has increased investors’ willingness to pay up for the stock. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Sino Horizon Holdings

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

Is There Enough Growth For Sino Horizon Holdings?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as steep as Sino Horizon Holdings' is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market decidedly.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 189% gain to the company's bottom line. Although, its longer-term performance hasn't been as strong with three-year EPS growth being relatively non-existent overall. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Weighing that recent medium-term earnings trajectory against the broader market's one-year forecast for expansion of 25% shows it's noticeably less attractive on an annualised basis.

With this information, we find it concerning that Sino Horizon Holdings is trading at a P/E higher than the market. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent earnings trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

What We Can Learn From Sino Horizon Holdings' P/E?

Sino Horizon Holdings' P/E is flying high just like its stock has during the last month. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

Our examination of Sino Horizon Holdings revealed its three-year earnings trends aren't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look worse than current market expectations. Right now we are increasingly uncomfortable with the high P/E as this earnings performance isn't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 4 warning signs for Sino Horizon Holdings (2 shouldn't be ignored!) that we have uncovered.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have grown earnings strongly and trade on P/E's below 20x.

If you’re looking to trade Sino Horizon Holdings, open an account with the lowest-cost* platform trusted by professionals, Interactive Brokers. Their clients from over 200 countries and territories trade stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds worldwide from a single integrated account. Promoted

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.
^*Interactive Brokers Rated Lowest Cost Broker by StockBrokers.com Annual Online Review 2020

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