When close to half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 19x, you may consider ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR) as an attractive investment with its 12.2x P/E ratio. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

With earnings growth that's superior to most other companies of late, ACM Research has been doing relatively well. It might be that many expect the strong earnings performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/E. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

See our latest analysis for ACM Research

Keen to find out how analysts think ACM Research's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

In order to justify its P/E ratio, ACM Research would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the market.

If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 22%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow EPS by 167% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Looking ahead now, EPS is anticipated to climb by 15% per year during the coming three years according to the eight analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% per annum growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's peculiar that ACM Research's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Bottom Line On ACM Research's P/E

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 ACM Research currently trades on a much lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. There could be some major unobserved threats to earnings preventing the P/E ratio from matching the positive outlook. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

The company's balance sheet is another key area for risk analysis. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for ACM Research with six simple checks.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with a strong growth track record, trading on a low P/E.

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