With a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.4x Pengdu Agriculture & Animal Husbandry Co.,Ltd. (SZSE:002505) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all the Food companies in China have P/S ratios greater than 1.6x and even P/S higher than 4x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

How Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd Has Been Performing

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd over the last year, which is not ideal at all. Perhaps the market believes the recent revenue performance isn't good enough to keep up the industry, causing the P/S ratio to suffer. 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.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd?

Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse 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 7.7%. However, a few very strong years before that means that it was still able to grow revenue by an impressive 34% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a very good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

Comparing the recent medium-term revenue trends against the industry's one-year growth forecast of 15% shows it's noticeably less attractive.

With this in consideration, it's easy to understand why Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd's P/S falls short of the mark set by its industry peers. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount 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.

In line with expectations, Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd maintains its low P/S on the weakness of its recent three-year growth being lower than the wider industry forecast. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Many other vital risk factors can be found on the company's balance sheet. Our free balance sheet analysis for Pengdu Agriculture & Animal HusbandryLtd with six simple checks will allow you to discover any risks that could be an issue.

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.