Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Porch Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRCH) share price has dived 40% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. Longer-term, the stock has been solid despite a difficult 30 days, gaining 21% in the last year.

After such a large drop in price, Porch Group's price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.4x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the wider Software industry in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 4.2x and even P/S above 11x 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.

What Does Porch Group's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

With revenue growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Porch Group has been doing relatively well. It might be that many expect the strong revenue performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the share price, and thus the P/S ratio. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Porch Group?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Porch Group's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 53% gain to the company's top line. This great performance means it was also able to deliver immense revenue growth over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the nine analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 3.0% over the next year. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 14% growth forecast for the broader industry.

With this in consideration, its clear as to why Porch Group's P/S is falling short industry peers. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

What We Can Learn From Porch Group's P/S?

Porch Group's P/S looks about as weak as its stock price lately. We'd say the price-to-sales ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

As expected, our analysis of Porch Group's analyst forecasts confirms that the company's underwhelming revenue outlook is a major contributor to its low P/S. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Porch Group (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about.

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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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.

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