When close to half the companies in the Machinery industry in China have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 2.5x, you may consider Shanghai Tianyong Engineering Co., Ltd. (SHSE:603895) as a stock to potentially avoid with its 3.6x P/S ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the elevated P/S.

Check out our latest analysis for Shanghai Tianyong Engineering

How Shanghai Tianyong Engineering Has Been Performing

Shanghai Tianyong Engineering has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue at a solid pace. One possibility is that the P/S ratio is high because investors think this respectable revenue growth will be enough to outperform the broader industry in the near future. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

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

Shanghai Tianyong Engineering's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver solid growth, and importantly, perform better than the industry.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 12% last year. Pleasingly, revenue has also lifted 39% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 28% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

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

What We Can Learn From Shanghai Tianyong Engineering's P/S?

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.

Our examination of Shanghai Tianyong Engineering revealed its poor three-year revenue trends aren't detracting from the P/S as much as we though, given they look worse than current industry expectations. When we see slower than industry revenue growth but an elevated P/S, there's considerable risk of the share price declining, sending the P/S lower. Unless there is a significant improvement in the company's medium-term performance, it will be difficult to prevent the P/S ratio from declining to a more reasonable level.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Shanghai Tianyong Engineering (2 are a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of.

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

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.