Shenzhen Longli Technology Co.,Ltd (SZSE:300752) shareholders that were waiting for something to happen have been dealt a blow with a 26% share price drop in the last month. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 29% in that time.

Since its price has dipped substantially, Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd may be sending buy signals at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3.2x, considering almost half of all companies in the Semiconductor industry in China have P/S ratios greater than 6.1x and even P/S higher than 12x aren't out of the ordinary. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Check out our latest analysis for Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd

How Has Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd Performed Recently?

For instance, Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd's receding revenue in recent times would have to be some food for thought. Perhaps the market believes the recent revenue performance isn't good enough to keep up the industry, causing the P/S ratio to suffer. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

How Is Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd's Revenue Growth Trending?

Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 38% decrease to the company's top line. As a result, revenue from three years ago have also fallen 53% overall. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

Weighing that medium-term revenue trajectory against the broader industry's one-year forecast for expansion of 36% shows it's an unpleasant look.

With this information, we are not surprised that Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd's P/S has taken a dip along with its share price. 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 Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd revealed its shrinking revenue over the medium-term is contributing to its low P/S, given the industry is set to grow. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises either. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Having said that, be aware Shenzhen Longli TechnologyLtd is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is a bit concerning.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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