Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Limited's (SZSE:000488) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.4x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the Forestry industry in China, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 1.6x and even P/S above 5x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

See our latest analysis for Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings

How Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Has Been Performing

Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings could be doing better as its revenue has been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive revenue growth. It seems that many are expecting the poor revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the P/S ratio. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 19% decrease to the company's top line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 13% in aggregate. 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 bring diminished returns, with revenue decreasing 2.0% as estimated by the one analyst watching the company. Meanwhile, the broader industry is forecast to expand by 14%, which paints a poor picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

The Key Takeaway

We'd say the price-to-sales ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

As we suspected, our examination of Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings' analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking revenue is contributing to its low P/S. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Unless there's material change, it's hard to envision a situation where the stock price will rise drastically.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 1 warning sign for Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings that we have uncovered.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So if growing profitability aligns with your idea of a great company, take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.