The Brightstar Technology Group Co., Ltd. (HKG:8446) share price has softened a substantial 27% over the previous 30 days, handing back much of the gains the stock has made lately. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 92% share price decline.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, you could still be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Brightstar Technology Group's P/S ratio of 2.1x, since the median price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio for the Entertainment industry in Hong Kong is also close to 1.7x. While this might not raise any eyebrows, if the P/S ratio is not justified investors could be missing out on a potential opportunity or ignoring looming disappointment.

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

Brightstar Technology Group certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing its revenue at a really rapid pace. The P/S is probably moderate because investors think this strong revenue growth might not be enough to outperform the broader industry in the near future. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

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

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 39% last year. Spectacularly, three year revenue growth has ballooned by several orders of magnitude, thanks in part to the last 12 months of revenue growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have been over the moon with those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Comparing that recent medium-term revenue trajectory with the industry's one-year growth forecast of 21% shows it's noticeably more attractive.

With this information, we find it interesting that Brightstar Technology Group is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. It may be that most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.

The Final Word

Brightstar Technology Group's plummeting stock price has brought its P/S back to a similar region as the rest of the industry. 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.

To our surprise, Brightstar Technology Group revealed its three-year revenue trends aren't contributing to its P/S as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current industry expectations. There could be some unobserved threats to revenue preventing the P/S ratio from matching this positive performance. At least the risk of a price drop looks to be subdued if recent medium-term revenue trends continue, but investors seem to think future revenue could see some volatility.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Brightstar Technology Group (2 can't be ignored) you should be aware of.

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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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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