Little Excitement Around CapitaLand India Trust's (SGX:CY6U) Earnings
When close to half the companies in Singapore have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 11x, you may consider CapitaLand India Trust (SGX:CY6U) as an attractive investment with its 7.6x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
Recent times have been advantageous for CapitaLand India Trust as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. 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.
See our latest analysis for CapitaLand India Trust
Keen to find out how analysts think CapitaLand India Trust's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.
What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/E?
CapitaLand India Trust's P/E ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the market.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew earnings per share by an impressive 41% last year. Still, incredibly EPS has fallen 15% in total from three years ago, which is quite disappointing. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been undesirable for the company.
Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to slump, contracting by 11% per year during the coming three years according to the five analysts following the company. With the market predicted to deliver 1.6% growth per annum, that's a disappointing outcome.
In light of this, it's understandable that CapitaLand India Trust'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. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.
The Bottom Line On CapitaLand India Trust's P/E
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.
As we suspected, our examination of CapitaLand India Trust'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.
Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for CapitaLand India Trust (1 doesn't sit too well with us) you should be aware of.
If you're unsure about the strength of CapitaLand India Trust's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
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