Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Tonghua Grape Wine Co.,Ltd (SHSE:600365) share price has dived 25% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 36% in that time.

Following the heavy fall in price, when around half the companies operating in China's Beverage industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 4.9x, you may consider Tonghua Grape WineLtd as an incredibly enticing stock to check out with its 1.2x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

What Does Tonghua Grape WineLtd's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

Revenue has risen firmly for Tonghua Grape WineLtd recently, which is pleasing to see. Perhaps the market is expecting this acceptable revenue performance to take a dive, which has kept the P/S suppressed. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Tonghua Grape WineLtd?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 26% last year. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 78% overall rise in revenue, aided by its short-term performance. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 18% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this in mind, we find it intriguing that Tonghua Grape WineLtd's P/S isn't as high compared to that of its industry peers. It looks like most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.

What We Can Learn From Tonghua Grape WineLtd's P/S?

Tonghua Grape WineLtd's P/S looks about as weak as its stock price lately. It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

Our examination of Tonghua Grape WineLtd revealed its three-year revenue trends aren't boosting its P/S anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current industry expectations. When we see strong revenue with faster-than-industry growth, we assume there are some significant underlying risks to the company's ability to make money which is applying downwards pressure on the P/S ratio. At least price risks look to be very low if recent medium-term revenue trends continue, but investors seem to think future revenue could see a lot of volatility.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Tonghua Grape WineLtd 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.