Despite an already strong run, Genius Sports Limited (NYSE:GENI) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 25% in the last thirty days. Looking back a bit further, it's encouraging to see the stock is up 91% in the last year.

Since its price has surged higher, you could be forgiven for thinking Genius Sports is a stock to steer clear of with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 4.5x, considering almost half the companies in the United States' Hospitality industry have P/S ratios below 1.6x. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.

What Does Genius Sports' Recent Performance Look Like?

Genius Sports' revenue growth of late has been pretty similar to most other companies. One possibility is that the P/S ratio is high because investors think this modest revenue performance will accelerate. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

How Is Genius Sports' Revenue Growth Trending?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as steep as Genius Sports' is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the industry decidedly.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 21% gain to the company's top line. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow revenue by 125% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Looking ahead now, revenue is anticipated to climb by 19% per annum during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 12% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this in mind, it's not hard to understand why Genius Sports' P/S is high relative to its industry peers. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

The Final Word

Shares in Genius Sports have seen a strong upwards swing lately, which has really helped boost its P/S figure. While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.

We've established that Genius Sports maintains its high P/S on the strength of its forecasted revenue growth being higher than the the rest of the Hospitality industry, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/S as they are quite confident future revenues aren't under threat. Unless the analysts have really missed the mark, these strong revenue forecasts should keep the share price buoyant.

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

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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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.