China East Education Holdings Limited (HKG:667) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 43% after a shaky period beforehand. Still, the 30-day jump doesn't change the fact that longer term shareholders have seen their stock decimated by the 72% share price drop in the last twelve months.

Since its price has surged higher, given close to half the companies in Hong Kong have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 9x, you may consider China East Education Holdings as a stock to avoid entirely with its 26.7x 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 lofty.

China East Education Holdings' earnings growth of late has been pretty similar to most other companies. It might be that many expect the mediocre earnings performance to strengthen positively, which has kept the P/E from falling. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

View our latest analysis for China East Education Holdings

Is There Enough Growth For China East Education Holdings?

China East Education Holdings' P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 17% gain to the company's bottom line. Pleasingly, EPS has also lifted 34% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 44% each year as estimated by the ten analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 15% per annum, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why China East Education Holdings is trading at such a high P/E compared to the market. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Bottom Line On China East Education Holdings' P/E

The strong share price surge has got China East Education Holdings' P/E rushing to great heights as well. 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 China East Education Holdings maintains its high P/E on the strength of its forecast growth being higher than the wider market, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in earnings isn't great enough to justify a lower P/E ratio. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 2 warning signs for China East Education Holdings that you should be aware of.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than China East Education Holdings. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that sit on P/E's below 20x 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.