Despite an already strong run, Tutor Perini Corporation (NYSE:TPC) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 26% in the last thirty days. This latest share price bounce rounds out a remarkable 352% gain over the last twelve months.

Even after such a large jump in price, considering around half the companies operating in the United States' Construction industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 1.1x, you may still consider Tutor Perini as an solid investment opportunity with its 0.4x P/S ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

What Does Tutor Perini's Recent Performance Look Like?

Recent revenue growth for Tutor Perini has been in line with the industry. It might be that many expect the mediocre revenue performance to degrade, which has repressed the P/S ratio. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

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

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Tutor Perini's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 14% gain to the company's revenues. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen an unpleasant 14% overall drop in revenue. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 13% as estimated by the dual analysts watching the company. With the industry only predicted to deliver 11%, the company is positioned for a stronger revenue result.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Tutor Perini's P/S sits below the majority of other companies. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.

The Key Takeaway

Despite Tutor Perini's share price climbing recently, its P/S still lags most other companies. 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.

To us, it seems Tutor Perini 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. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future revenues could see a lot of volatility.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for Tutor Perini with six simple checks on some of these key factors.

If you're unsure about the strength of Tutor Perini's 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.