Low P/E ratios and business growth rarely go hand in hand on the stock market. As a rule, investors are willing to pay a premium for a fast-growing company, while low P/E ratios tend to signal stagnation or increased risk. Nevertheless, even today there are companies that combine solid business momentum with a price-to-earnings ratio below 15. The catch is that for each of them, that low P/E ratio is conditional on certain factors. Let’s take a look at three such companies and, more importantly, at what’s really behind their numbers.

The price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E, is one of the most closely watched valuation metrics of all. It expresses how much investors are willing to pay for one unit of a company’s annual earnings. A high P/E ratio usually signals that the market expects strong future growth, while a low P/E ratio may indicate either an undervalued stock or, conversely, skepticism about the sustainability of earnings.

The combination of rapid growth and a low P/E ratio is…