To the annoyance of some shareholders, Aware, Inc. (NASDAQ:AWRE) shares are down a considerable 29% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 15% share price drop.

Following the heavy fall in price, Aware may be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.8x, since almost half of all companies in the Software industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 5x and even P/S higher than 12x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/S.

What Does Aware's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

For instance, Aware'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.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as depressed as Aware's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the industry decidedly.

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 5.4%. At least revenue has managed not to go completely backwards from three years ago in aggregate, thanks to the earlier period of growth. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 25% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker, based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.

In light of this, it's understandable that Aware's P/S sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on to something they believe will continue to trail the wider industry.

The Key Takeaway

Shares in Aware have plummeted and its P/S has followed suit. 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 Aware revealed its three-year revenue trends are contributing to its low P/S, given they look worse than current industry expectations. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for Aware that you need to take into consideration.

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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