When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 18x, you may consider Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) as a highly attractive investment with its 2.5x 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.

Global Ship Lease certainly has been doing a good job lately as its earnings growth has been positive while most other companies have been seeing their earnings go backwards. 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 you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on Global Ship Lease will help you uncover what's on the horizon.

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

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

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 6.6%. This was backed up an excellent period prior to see EPS up by 676% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with earnings decreasing 6.8% per year as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 10% each year, which paints a poor picture.

In light of this, it's understandable that Global Ship Lease's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. However, shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term. There's potential for the P/E to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its profitability.

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

Using the price-to-earnings ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

As we suspected, our examination of Global Ship Lease'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.

Having said that, be aware Global Ship Lease is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is a bit concerning.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Global Ship Lease, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.