Those holding ZOY Home Furnishing Co.,Ltd (SHSE:603709) shares would be relieved that the share price has rebounded 32% in the last thirty days, but it needs to keep going to repair the recent damage it has caused to investor portfolios. While recent buyers may be laughing, long-term holders might not be as pleased since the recent gain only brings the stock back to where it started a year ago.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, when close to half the companies operating in China's Consumer Durables industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 2x, you may still consider ZOY Home FurnishingLtd as an enticing stock to check out with its 1.4x 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 ZOY Home FurnishingLtd Performed Recently?

Revenue has risen firmly for ZOY Home FurnishingLtd 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.

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

In order to justify its P/S ratio, ZOY Home FurnishingLtd would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 15% gain to the company's top line. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen the company endure a nasty 16% drop in revenue in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

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

In light of this, it's understandable that ZOY Home FurnishingLtd's P/S would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift ZOY Home FurnishingLtd's P/S close to the industry median. 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.

It's no surprise that ZOY Home FurnishingLtd maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises either. Given the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that the share price will experience any significant movement in either direction in the near future if recent medium-term revenue trends persist.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with ZOY Home FurnishingLtd (at least 1 which is a bit unpleasant), and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Of course, profitable companies with a history of great earnings growth are generally safer bets. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.