In Depth: For Laopu Gold, the Jewelry Isn’t the Only Thing That’s Expensive

Hong Kong-listed Laopu Gold Co. Ltd.’s skyrocketing stock price pushed up one measure of the upstart jewelry retailer’s value to a level that one private equity investment manager called “madness.”

Laopu’s trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio reached more than 130 times in late March, according to Yahoo Finance’s estimates. By comparison, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, which owns the jewelry brands Cartier and Tiffany & Co., has a P/E ratio in the low 20s.