Hudson Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSON) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 27% after a shaky period beforehand. Not all shareholders will be feeling jubilant, since the share price is still down a very disappointing 20% in the last twelve months.

Since its price has surged higher, Hudson Global's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 23.2x might make it look like a sell right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios below 17x and even P/E's below 9x are quite common. However, the P/E might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Hudson Global has been struggling lately as its earnings have declined faster than most other companies. It might be that many expect the dismal earnings performance to recover substantially, which has kept the P/E from collapsing. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Does Growth Match The High P/E?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the market for P/E ratios like Hudson Global's to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of earnings, dishearteningly the company's profits fell to the tune of 70%. Unfortunately, that's brought it right back to where it started three years ago with EPS growth being virtually non-existent overall during that time. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing earnings over that time.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 24% during the coming year according to the sole analyst following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we can see why Hudson Global 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.

What We Can Learn From Hudson Global's P/E?

Hudson Global shares have received a push in the right direction, but its P/E is elevated too. 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 Hudson Global 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.

You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Hudson Global you should be aware of.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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