Cushman & Wakefield Limited (NYSE:CWK) shareholders won't be pleased to see that the share price has had a very rough month, dropping 25% and undoing the prior period's positive performance. Longer-term shareholders would now have taken a real hit with the stock declining 2.6% in the last year.

Following the heavy fall in price, Cushman & Wakefield's price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 13.4x might make it look like a 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 35x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/E.

Recent times have been advantageous for Cushman & Wakefield 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.

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

How Is Cushman & Wakefield's Growth Trending?

Cushman & Wakefield'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 151% last year. Still, incredibly EPS has fallen 31% in total from three years ago, which is quite disappointing. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 16% per year as estimated by the eight analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the market is forecast to only expand by 12% each year, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Cushman & Wakefield's P/E sits below the majority of other companies. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Bottom Line On Cushman & Wakefield's P/E

Cushman & Wakefield's P/E has taken a tumble along with its share price. 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.

Our examination of Cushman & Wakefield's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior earnings outlook isn't contributing to its P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. When we see a strong earnings outlook with faster-than-market growth, we assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/E ratio. It appears many are indeed anticipating earnings instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

Having said that, be aware Cushman & Wakefield is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.

If P/E ratios interest you, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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.