Those holding Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:FENC) shares would be relieved that the share price has rebounded 25% in the last thirty days, but it needs to keep going to repair the recent damage it has caused to investor portfolios. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 40% over that time.

Even after such a large jump in price, Fennec Pharmaceuticals' price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3x might still make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the wider Biotechs industry in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 9.6x and even P/S above 60x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.

How Fennec Pharmaceuticals Has Been Performing

Fennec Pharmaceuticals could be doing better as it's been growing revenue less than most other companies lately. It seems that many are expecting the uninspiring revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the growth of the P/S ratio. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Fennec Pharmaceuticals?

Fennec Pharmaceuticals' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling revenue, and importantly, perform much worse than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an explosive gain to the company's top line. Spectacularly, three year revenue growth has also set the world alight, thanks to the last 12 months of incredible growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a tremendous job of growing revenue over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 33% per annum as estimated by the five analysts watching the company. With the industry predicted to deliver 118% growth each year, the company is positioned for a weaker revenue result.

With this information, we can see why Fennec Pharmaceuticals is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Final Word

Shares in Fennec Pharmaceuticals have risen appreciably however, its P/S is still subdued. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-sales ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

As we suspected, our examination of Fennec Pharmaceuticals' analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior revenue outlook is contributing to its low P/S. Shareholders' pessimism on the revenue prospects for the company seems to be the main contributor to the depressed P/S. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Fennec Pharmaceuticals (at least 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable), and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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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