With a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 8x Sumavision Technologies Co.,Ltd. (SZSE:300079) may be sending very bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all the Communications companies in China have P/S ratios under 5.1x and even P/S lower than 2x are not unusual. However, the P/S might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

See our latest analysis for Sumavision TechnologiesLtd

How Has Sumavision TechnologiesLtd Performed Recently?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Sumavision TechnologiesLtd over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/S is high because investors think the company will still do enough to outperform the broader industry in the near future. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

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

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Sumavision TechnologiesLtd would need to produce outstanding growth that's well in excess of the industry.

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 1.6%. This has erased any of its gains during the last three years, with practically no change in revenue being achieved in total. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 42% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this information, we find it concerning that Sumavision TechnologiesLtd is trading at a P/S higher than the industry. It seems most investors are ignoring the recent poor growth rate and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. There's a very good chance existing shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with the recent negative growth rates.

What We Can Learn From Sumavision TechnologiesLtd's P/S?

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.

Our examination of Sumavision TechnologiesLtd revealed its shrinking revenue over the medium-term isn't resulting in a P/S as low as we expected, given the industry is set to grow. When we see revenue heading backwards and underperforming the industry forecasts, we feel the possibility of the share price declining is very real, bringing the P/S back into the realm of reasonability. Should recent medium-term revenue trends persist, it would pose a significant risk to existing shareholders' investments and prospective investors will have a hard time accepting the current value of the stock.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 2 warning signs for Sumavision TechnologiesLtd that 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.