Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity Power Co.,Ltd (SHSE:600971) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 26% gain and recovering from prior weakness. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 45%.

Even after such a large jump in price, Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd may still be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 6.2x, since almost half of all companies in China have P/E ratios greater than 30x and even P/E's higher than 55x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.

Recent times have been pleasing for Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd as its earnings have risen in spite of the market's earnings going into reverse. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think the company's earnings are going to fall away like everyone else's soon. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as depressed as Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market decidedly.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 16% gain to the company's bottom line. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 210% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably welcomed those medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the dual analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 9.4% over the next year. That's not great when the rest of the market is expected to grow by 41%.

With this information, we are not surprised that Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd 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.

What We Can Learn From Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd's P/E?

Shares in Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd are going to need a lot more upward momentum to get the company's P/E out of its slump. While the price-to-earnings ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of earnings expectations.

As we suspected, our examination of Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking earnings is contributing to its low P/E. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in earnings isn't great enough to justify a higher P/E ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 1 warning sign for Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity PowerLtd you should be aware of.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.