Jikai Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002691) shares have had a horrible month, losing 29% after a relatively good period beforehand. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 37% in that time.

Even after such a large drop in price, given around half the companies in China's Machinery industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 3x, you may still consider Jikai Equipment Manufacturing as a stock to avoid entirely with its 5.1x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Has Jikai Equipment Manufacturing Performed Recently?

For example, consider that Jikai Equipment Manufacturing's financial performance has been poor lately as its revenue has been in decline. It might be that many expect the company to still outplay most other companies over the coming period, which has kept the P/S from collapsing. If not, then existing shareholders may be quite nervous about the viability of the share price.

Is There Enough Revenue Growth Forecasted For Jikai Equipment Manufacturing?

Jikai Equipment Manufacturing's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the industry.

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 15%. This has soured the latest three-year period, which nevertheless managed to deliver a decent 8.1% overall rise in revenue. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 22% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this in mind, we find it worrying that Jikai Equipment Manufacturing's P/S exceeds that of its industry peers. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent revenue trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Bottom Line On Jikai Equipment Manufacturing's P/S

A significant share price dive has done very little to deflate Jikai Equipment Manufacturing's very lofty P/S. 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.

The fact that Jikai Equipment Manufacturing currently trades on a higher P/S relative to the industry is an oddity, since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider industry forecast. When we observe slower-than-industry revenue growth alongside a high P/S ratio, we assume there to be a significant risk of the share price decreasing, which would result in a lower P/S ratio. Unless there is a significant improvement in the company's medium-term performance, it will be difficult to prevent the P/S ratio from declining to a more reasonable level.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Jikai Equipment Manufacturing you should know about.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.