To the annoyance of some shareholders, MultiPlan Corporation (NYSE:MPLN) shares are down a considerable 27% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. The recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 89% loss during that time.

After such a large drop in price, MultiPlan may be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x, since almost half of all companies in the Healthcare Services industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 2.1x and even P/S higher than 5x are not unusual. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Has MultiPlan Performed Recently?

While the industry has experienced revenue growth lately, MultiPlan's revenue has gone into reverse gear, which is not great. It seems that many are expecting the poor revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the P/S ratio. If you still 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 MultiPlan?

MultiPlan's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the industry.

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 1.2%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 5.5% in aggregate. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should bring diminished returns, with revenue decreasing 1.5% as estimated by the two analysts watching the company. With the industry predicted to deliver 9.0% growth, that's a disappointing outcome.

In light of this, it's understandable that MultiPlan'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 the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

MultiPlan's P/S has taken a dip along with its share price. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

With revenue forecasts that are inferior to the rest of the industry, it's no surprise that MultiPlan's P/S is on the lower end of the spectrum. As other companies in the industry are forecasting revenue growth, MultiPlan's poor outlook justifies its low P/S ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for MultiPlan (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about.

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.