Sakae Holdings Ltd. (SGX:5DO) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 26% gain and recovering from prior weakness. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 16% over that time.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Sakae Holdings' price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1x might still make it look like a buy right now compared to the Hospitality industry in Singapore, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 1.9x and even P/S above 4x are quite common. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Sakae Holdings Has Been Performing

For instance, Sakae Holdings' receding revenue in recent times would have to be some food for thought. One possibility is that the P/S is low because investors think the company won't do enough to avoid underperforming the broader industry in the near future. 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.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 16% decrease to the company's top line. This means it has also seen a slide in revenue over the longer-term as revenue is down 32% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 18% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

In light of this, it's understandable that Sakae Holdings' P/S would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

What Does Sakae Holdings' P/S Mean For Investors?

Despite Sakae Holdings' share price climbing recently, its P/S still lags most other 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Sakae Holdings revealed its shrinking revenue over the medium-term is contributing to its low P/S, given the industry is set to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Given the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that the share price will experience any significant movement in either direction in the near future if recent medium-term revenue trends persist.

You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Sakae Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them is significant.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Sakae Holdings, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.