The CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) share price has fared very poorly over the last month, falling by a substantial 25%. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 44% in that time.

After such a large drop in price, given about half the companies in the United States have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") above 19x, you may consider CVS Health as an attractive investment with its 11.1x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

While the market has experienced earnings growth lately, CVS Health's earnings have gone into reverse gear, which is not great. The P/E is probably low because investors think this poor earnings performance isn't going to get any better. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

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

Does Growth Match The Low P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as low as CVS Health's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 41% decrease to the company's bottom line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk EPS by 31% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing earnings over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest earnings should grow by 18% each year over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 11% each year growth forecast for the broader market.

In light of this, it's peculiar that CVS Health'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 CVS Health's P/E

CVS Health'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.

We've established that CVS Health 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. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future earnings could see a lot of volatility.

Of course, you might also be able to find a better stock than CVS Health. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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.