Unfortunately for some shareholders, the GDEV Inc. (NASDAQ:GDEV) share price has dived 39% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 22% in that time.
Since its price has dipped substantially, GDEV's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 4.8x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the market in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/E ratios above 20x and even P/E's above 34x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/E.
GDEV certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing earnings more than most other companies. 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.
Check out our latest analysis for GDEV
In order to justify its P/E ratio, GDEV would need to produce anemic growth that's substantially trailing the market.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 49% gain to the company's bottom line. Still, incredibly EPS has fallen 45% in total from three years ago, which is quite disappointing. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.
Shifting to the future, estimates from the dual analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 4.3% over the next year. With the market predicted to deliver 16% growth , the company is positioned for a weaker earnings result.
With this information, we can see why GDEV is trading at a P/E lower than the market. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.
GDEV's P/E looks about as weak as its stock price lately. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-earnings ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.
As we suspected, our examination of GDEV's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior earnings outlook is contributing to its low P/E. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.
And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for GDEV you should know about.
Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than GDEV. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.
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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.