Henan Senyuan Electric Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002358) shareholders that were waiting for something to happen have been dealt a blow with a 27% share price drop in the last month. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 31% in that time.

Although its price has dipped substantially, when close to half the companies operating in China's Electrical industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 2x, you may still consider Henan Senyuan Electric as an enticing stock to check out with its 1.2x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Has Henan Senyuan Electric Performed Recently?

Henan Senyuan Electric has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue at a solid pace. Perhaps the market is expecting this acceptable revenue performance to take a dive, which has kept the P/S suppressed. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

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

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Henan Senyuan Electric's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 23% gain to the company's top line. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 64% overall rise in revenue, aided by its short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 27% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's understandable that Henan Senyuan Electric'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.

What We Can Learn From Henan Senyuan Electric's P/S?

Henan Senyuan Electric's recently weak share price has pulled its P/S back below other Electrical companies. Using the price-to-sales ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

Our examination of Henan Senyuan Electric confirms that the company's revenue trends over the past three-year years are a key factor in its low price-to-sales ratio, as we suspected, given they fall short of 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.

Having said that, be aware Henan Senyuan Electric is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 2 of those don't sit too well with us.

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.