Legion Consortium Limited (HKG:2129) Stock Rockets 42% But Many Are Still Ignoring The Company

The Legion Consortium Limited (HKG:2129) share price has done very well over the last month, posting an excellent gain of 42%. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 34%.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Legion Consortium may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 6.1x, since almost half of all companies in Hong Kong have P/E ratios greater than 11x and even P/E's higher than 23x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

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Recent times have been quite advantageous for Legion Consortium as its earnings have been rising very briskly. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings growth might actually underperform the broader market in the near future. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

View our latest analysis for Legion Consortium

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 46% gain to the company's bottom line. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 75% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to grow by 18% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it odd that Legion Consortium is trading at a P/E lower than the market. It looks like most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.

The Final Word

Despite Legion Consortium's shares building up a head of steam, its P/E still lags most other companies. 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.

We've established that Legion Consortium currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is higher than the wider market forecast. There could be some major unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching this positive performance. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because the persistence of these recent medium-term conditions would normally provide a boost to the share price.

You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 1 warning sign for Legion Consortium you should be aware of.

If you're unsure about the strength of Legion Consortium's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.