To the annoyance of some shareholders, Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) shares are down a considerable 27% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 43% share price drop.

Even after such a large drop in price, it's still not a stretch to say that Crocs' price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 17.4x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" compared to the market in the United States, where the median P/E ratio is around 19x. However, investors might be overlooking a clear opportunity or potential setback if there is no rational basis for the P/E.

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Crocs could be doing better as its earnings have been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive earnings growth. One possibility is that the P/E is moderate because investors think this poor earnings performance will turn around. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Crocs

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

How Is Crocs' Growth Trending?

The only time you'd be comfortable seeing a P/E like Crocs' is when the company's growth is tracking the market closely.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 69% decrease to the company's bottom line. As a result, earnings from three years ago have also fallen 52% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the twelve analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 36% per annum over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

With this information, we find it interesting that Crocs is trading at a fairly similar P/E to the market. It may be that most investors aren't convinced the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Final Word

Crocs' plummeting stock price has brought its P/E right back to the rest of the market. 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 Crocs currently trades on a lower than expected P/E since its forecast growth is higher than the wider market. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing pressure on the P/E ratio. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued, but investors seem to think future earnings could see some volatility.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 4 warning signs for Crocs that you need to be mindful of.

You might be able to find a better investment than Crocs. If you want a selection of possible candidates, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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