ActBlue Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300816) shares have had a horrible month, losing 26% after a relatively good period beforehand. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 29% in that time.

Even after such a large drop in price, ActBlue may still be sending buy signals at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.4x, considering almost half of all companies in the Machinery industry in China have P/S ratios greater than 2.5x and even P/S higher than 5x aren't out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

How Has ActBlue Performed Recently?

Recent times have been advantageous for ActBlue as its revenues have been rising faster than most other companies. Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to dive, which has kept the P/S suppressed. 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.

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

In order to justify its P/S ratio, ActBlue would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 25%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 39% overall rise in revenue, aided by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the only analyst covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 48% over the next year. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 22%, which is noticeably less attractive.

In light of this, it's peculiar that ActBlue's P/S sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Final Word

ActBlue's P/S has taken a dip along with its share price. Using the price-to-sales ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

A look at ActBlue's revenues reveals that, despite glowing future growth forecasts, its P/S is much lower than we'd expect. There could be some major risk factors that are placing downward pressure on the P/S ratio. While the possibility of the share price plunging seems unlikely due to the high growth forecasted for the company, the market does appear to have some hesitation.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for ActBlue with six simple checks.

Of course, profitable companies with a history of great earnings growth are generally safer bets. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.

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