SelectQuote, Inc. (NYSE:SLQT) shares have had a horrible month, losing 39% after a relatively good period beforehand. Looking at the bigger picture, even after this poor month the stock is up 63% in the last year.

After such a large drop in price, considering around half the companies operating in the United States' Insurance industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 1x, you may consider SelectQuote as an solid investment opportunity with its 0.3x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How SelectQuote Has Been Performing

SelectQuote certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue more than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/S ratio is low because investors think this strong revenue performance might be less impressive moving forward. 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.

How Is SelectQuote's Revenue Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, SelectQuote 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 32%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 42% overall rise in revenue, aided by its short-term performance. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 14% as estimated by the dual analysts watching the company. With the industry only predicted to deliver 4.9%, the company is positioned for a stronger revenue result.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that SelectQuote's P/S sits behind most of its industry peers. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Final Word

SelectQuote's recently weak share price has pulled its P/S back below other Insurance companies. While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.

To us, it seems SelectQuote currently trades on a significantly depressed P/S given its forecasted revenue growth is higher than the rest of its industry. The reason for this depressed P/S could potentially be found in the risks the market is pricing in. It appears the market could be anticipating revenue instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

Having said that, be aware SelectQuote is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So if growing profitability aligns with your idea of a great company, take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.