Meihua International Medical Technologies Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:MHUA) shareholders that were waiting for something to happen have been dealt a blow with a 31% share price drop in the last month. The recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 66% loss during that time.

Since its price has dipped substantially, Meihua International Medical Technologies may look like a strong buying opportunity at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.2x, considering almost half of all companies in the Medical Equipment industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 3.2x and even P/S higher than 8x aren't out of the ordinary. However, the P/S might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Meihua International Medical Technologies Has Been Performing

For example, consider that Meihua International Medical Technologies' financial performance has been poor lately as its revenue has been in decline. It might be that many expect the disappointing revenue performance to continue or accelerate, which has repressed the P/S. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

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

Meihua International Medical Technologies' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling revenue, and importantly, perform much worse than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 2.5% decrease to the company's top line. At least revenue has managed not to go completely backwards from three years ago in aggregate, thanks to the earlier period of growth. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing revenue over that time.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 9.4% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's understandable that Meihua International Medical Technologies' 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 Does Meihua International Medical Technologies' P/S Mean For Investors?

Meihua International Medical Technologies' P/S looks about as weak as its stock price lately. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Meihua International Medical Technologies revealed its three-year revenue trends are contributing to its low P/S, given they look worse than 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.

It is also worth noting that we have found 4 warning signs for Meihua International Medical Technologies (2 make us uncomfortable!) that you need to take into consideration.

If you're unsure about the strength of Meihua International Medical Technologies' business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.