Unfortunately for some shareholders, the 17 Education & Technology Group Inc. (NASDAQ:YQ) share price has dived 36% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 67% share price decline.

Following the heavy fall in price, when close to half the companies operating in the United States' Consumer Services industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 1.4x, you may consider 17 Education & Technology Group as an enticing stock to check out with its 0.8x P/S ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

View our latest analysis for 17 Education & Technology Group

How 17 Education & Technology Group Has Been Performing

For instance, 17 Education & Technology Group's receding revenue in recent times would have to be some food for thought. It might be that many expect the disappointing revenue performance to continue or accelerate, which has repressed the P/S. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

What Are Revenue Growth Metrics Telling Us About The Low P/S?

17 Education & Technology Group's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the industry.

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 84%. As a result, revenue from three years ago have also fallen 84% overall. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 13% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this in mind, we understand why 17 Education & Technology Group's P/S is lower than most of its industry peers. However, we think shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Key Takeaway

The southerly movements of 17 Education & Technology Group's shares means its P/S is now sitting at a pretty low level. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

It's no surprise that 17 Education & Technology Group maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for 17 Education & Technology Group that you should be aware of.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.