Rapid Micro Biosystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:RPID) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 25% gain in the last month alone. Longer-term shareholders would be thankful for the recovery in the share price since it's now virtually flat for the year after the recent bounce.

Even after such a large jump in price, Rapid Micro Biosystems may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.8x, since almost half of all companies in the Life Sciences industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 3.7x and even P/S higher than 6x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

How Has Rapid Micro Biosystems Performed Recently?

With revenue growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Rapid Micro Biosystems has been doing relatively well. Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to dive, which has kept the P/S suppressed. If not, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as low as Rapid Micro Biosystems' is when the company's growth is on track to lag the industry.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 27% last year. As a result, it also grew revenue by 13% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been respectable for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the two analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 21% over the next year. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 5.2% growth forecast for the broader industry.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Rapid Micro Biosystems' P/S sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Final Word

Despite Rapid Micro Biosystems' share price climbing recently, its P/S still lags most other companies. 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.

To us, it seems Rapid Micro Biosystems currently trades on a significantly depressed P/S given its forecasted revenue growth is higher than the rest of its industry. When we see strong growth forecasts like this, we can only assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/S ratio. It appears the market could be anticipating revenue instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 2 warning signs for Rapid Micro Biosystems 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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