Pavillon Holdings Ltd. (SGX:596) shares have retraced a considerable 29% in the last month, reversing a fair amount of their solid recent performance. The good news is that in the last year, the stock has shone bright like a diamond, gaining 125%.

Although its price has dipped substantially, given close to half the companies operating in Singapore's Hospitality industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 2.1x, you may still consider Pavillon Holdings as a stock to potentially avoid with its 2.9x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Pavillon Holdings Has Been Performing

The revenue growth achieved at Pavillon Holdings over the last year would be more than acceptable for most companies. Perhaps the market is expecting this decent revenue performance to beat out the industry over the near term, which has kept the P/S propped up. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The High P/S Ratio?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as high as Pavillon Holdings' is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the industry.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 10%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 112% overall rise in revenue, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing revenues over that time.

Comparing that to the industry, which is only predicted to deliver 18% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is stronger based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.

With this in consideration, it's not hard to understand why Pavillon Holdings' P/S is high relative to its industry peers. It seems most investors are expecting this strong growth to continue and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Key Takeaway

Pavillon Holdings' P/S remain high even after its stock plunged. It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

We've established that Pavillon Holdings maintains its high P/S on the strength of its recent three-year growth being higher than the wider industry forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/S as they are quite confident revenue aren't under threat. Unless the recent medium-term conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Pavillon Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So if growing profitability aligns with your idea of a great company, take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.