Azenta, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AZTA) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 4.5x may not look like an appealing investment opportunity when you consider close to half the companies in the Life Sciences industry in the United States have P/S ratios below 3.4x. However, the P/S might be high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

How Azenta Has Been Performing

Azenta certainly has been doing a good job lately as its revenue growth has been positive while most other companies have been seeing their revenue go backwards. Perhaps the market is expecting the company's future revenue growth to buck the trend of the industry, contributing to a higher P/S. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

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

Azenta's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver solid growth, and importantly, perform better than the industry.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 7.9% last year. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 116% overall rise in revenue, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the seven analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 11% over the next year. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 3.7% growth forecast for the broader industry.

With this information, we can see why Azenta is trading at such a high P/S compared to the industry. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Final Word

Using the price-to-sales ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

We've established that Azenta maintains its high P/S on the strength of its forecasted revenue growth being higher than the the rest of the Life Sciences industry, as expected. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in revenues is quite remote, justifying the elevated P/S ratio. It's hard to see the share price falling strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for Azenta that you need to take into consideration.

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.