When you see that almost half of the companies in the Life Sciences industry in the United States have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 3x, OmniAb, Inc. (NASDAQ:OABI) looks to be giving off strong sell signals with its 7.6x P/S ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.

Check out our latest analysis for OmniAb

How Has OmniAb Performed Recently?

With its revenue growth in positive territory compared to the declining revenue of most other companies, OmniAb has been doing quite well of late. It seems that many are expecting the company to continue defying the broader industry adversity, which has increased investors' willingness to pay up for the stock. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

How Is OmniAb's Revenue Growth Trending?

OmniAb's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the industry.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 66%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow revenue by 178% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the six analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 5.8% per year over the next three years. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to expand by 5.1% per annum, which is not materially different.

With this information, we find it interesting that OmniAb is trading at a high P/S compared to the industry. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly average growth expectations and are willing to pay up for exposure to the stock. Although, additional gains will be difficult to achieve as this level of revenue growth is likely to weigh down the share price eventually.

What We Can Learn From OmniAb's P/S?

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.

Analysts are forecasting OmniAb's revenues to only grow on par with the rest of the industry, which has lead to the high P/S ratio being unexpected. Right now we are uncomfortable with the relatively high share price as the predicted future revenues aren't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless the company can jump ahead of the rest of the industry in the short-term, it'll be a challenge to maintain the share price at current levels.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for OmniAb that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on OmniAb, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.