Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Global Top E-Commerce Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002640) share price has dived 26% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 51% share price decline.

Since its price has dipped substantially, Global Top E-Commerce may be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.5x, since almost half of all companies in the Multiline Retail industry in China have P/S ratios greater than 1.7x and even P/S higher than 4x are not unusual. 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 Global Top E-Commerce's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

For instance, Global Top E-Commerce's receding revenue in recent times would have to be some food for thought. It might be that many expect the disappointing revenue performance to continue or accelerate, which has repressed the P/S. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Global Top E-Commerce would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 8.7% decrease to the company's top line. As a result, revenue from three years ago have also fallen 60% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 24% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

In light of this, it's understandable that Global Top E-Commerce's P/S would sit below the majority of other companies. However, we think shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Bottom Line On Global Top E-Commerce's P/S

The southerly movements of Global Top E-Commerce's shares means its P/S is now sitting at a pretty low level. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

As we suspected, our examination of Global Top E-Commerce revealed its shrinking revenue over the medium-term is contributing to its low P/S, given the industry is set to grow. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises either. Given the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that the share price will experience any significant movement in either direction in the near future if recent medium-term revenue trends persist.

Many other vital risk factors can be found on the company's balance sheet. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for Global Top E-Commerce 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.