When you see that almost half of the companies in the Media industry in China have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 3.2x, China Satellite Communications Co., Ltd. (SHSE:601698) looks to be giving off strong sell signals with its 27.9x P/S ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.

View our latest analysis for China Satellite Communications

What Does China Satellite Communications' P/S Mean For Shareholders?

We'd have to say that with no tangible growth over the last year, China Satellite Communications' revenue has been unimpressive. One possibility is that the P/S is high because investors think the benign revenue growth will improve to outperform the broader industry in the near future. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

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

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far outperform the industry for P/S ratios like China Satellite Communications' to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's top line as the year before. This isn't what shareholders were looking for as it means they've been left with a 1.3% decline in revenue over the last three years in total. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Weighing that medium-term revenue trajectory against the broader industry's one-year forecast for expansion of 21% shows it's an unpleasant look.

With this in mind, we find it worrying that China Satellite Communications' P/S exceeds that of its industry peers. It seems most investors are ignoring the recent poor growth rate and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. There's a very good chance existing shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with the recent negative growth rates.

The Final Word

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.

We've established that China Satellite Communications currently trades on a much higher than expected P/S since its recent revenues have been in decline over the medium-term. When we see revenue heading backwards and underperforming the industry forecasts, we feel the possibility of the share price declining is very real, bringing the P/S back into the realm of reasonability. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, investors will have a hard time accepting the share price as fair value.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 1 warning sign for China Satellite Communications that you should be aware of.

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.