Rackspace Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RXT) 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 33% over that time.

Even after such a large jump in price, Rackspace Technology may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x, since almost half of all companies in the IT industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 1.7x and even P/S higher than 5x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

View our latest analysis for Rackspace Technology

What Does Rackspace Technology's Recent Performance Look Like?

Rackspace Technology hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining revenue compares poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth in their revenues on average. Perhaps the P/S remains low as investors think the prospects of strong revenue growth aren't on the horizon. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

How Is Rackspace Technology's Revenue Growth Trending?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 2.8% decrease to the company's top line. This has soured the latest three-year period, which nevertheless managed to deliver a decent 16% overall rise in revenue. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the six analysts covering the company suggest revenue growth is heading into negative territory, declining 4.5% over the next year. Meanwhile, the broader industry is forecast to expand by 11%, which paints a poor picture.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that Rackspace Technology's P/S is closely matching its industry peers. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.

The Bottom Line On Rackspace Technology's P/S

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Rackspace Technology's P/S close to the industry median. 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 Rackspace Technology's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking revenue is contributing 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. Unless there's material change, it's hard to envision a situation where the stock price will rise drastically.

You need to take note of risks, for example - Rackspace Technology has 5 warning signs (and 1 which shouldn't be ignored) we think you should know about.

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.