Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) shareholders are no doubt pleased to see that the share price has bounced 37% in the last month, although it is still struggling to make up recently lost ground. 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.

Even after such a large jump in price, Puma Biotechnology may still be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.9x, since almost half of all companies in the Biotechs industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 11.3x and even P/S higher than 63x are not unusual. However, the P/S might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

What Does Puma Biotechnology's Recent Performance Look Like?

Puma Biotechnology could be doing better as its revenue has been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive revenue growth. The P/S ratio is probably low because investors think this poor revenue performance isn't going to get any better. So while you could say the stock is cheap, investors will be looking for improvement before they see it as good value.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Puma Biotechnology?

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

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 4.8%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 14% in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the two analysts covering the company suggest revenue growth is heading into negative territory, declining 1.2% per annum over the next three years. That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 176% per year.

In light of this, it's understandable that Puma Biotechnology'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. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.

The Bottom Line On Puma Biotechnology's P/S

Even after such a strong price move, Puma Biotechnology's P/S still trails the rest of the industry. 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.

With revenue forecasts that are inferior to the rest of the industry, it's no surprise that Puma Biotechnology's P/S is on the lower end of the spectrum. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

Plus, you should also learn about these 4 warning signs we've spotted with Puma Biotechnology (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant).

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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