Reach New Holdings Limited (HKG:8471) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 27% gain in the last month alone. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 26%.

Following the firm bounce in price, you could be forgiven for thinking Reach New Holdings is a stock to steer clear of with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 3.8x, considering almost half the companies in Hong Kong's Luxury industry have P/S ratios below 0.6x. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.

What Does Reach New Holdings' P/S Mean For Shareholders?

The revenue growth achieved at Reach New Holdings over the last year would be more than acceptable for most companies. Perhaps the market is expecting this decent revenue performance to beat out the industry over the near term, which has kept the P/S propped up. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

How Is Reach New Holdings' Revenue Growth Trending?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as steep as Reach New Holdings' is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the industry decidedly.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 11%. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen an unpleasant 1.8% overall drop in revenue. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Weighing that medium-term revenue trajectory against the broader industry's one-year forecast for expansion of 12% shows it's an unpleasant look.

With this information, we find it concerning that Reach New Holdings is trading at a P/S higher than the industry. It seems most investors are ignoring the recent poor growth rate and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. There's a very good chance existing shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with the recent negative growth rates.

The Final Word

Reach New Holdings' P/S has grown nicely over the last month thanks to a handy boost in the share price. 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.

We've established that Reach New Holdings currently trades on a much higher than expected P/S since its recent revenues have been in decline over the medium-term. When we see revenue heading backwards and underperforming the industry forecasts, we feel the possibility of the share price declining is very real, bringing the P/S back into the realm of reasonability. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, investors will have a hard time accepting the share price as fair value.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider and we've discovered 4 warning signs for Reach New Holdings (2 are concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.