It's not a stretch to say that PLAYSTUDIOS, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MYPS) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" for companies in the Entertainment industry in the United States, where the median P/S ratio is around 1.2x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/S without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.

What Does PLAYSTUDIOS' Recent Performance Look Like?

Recent times haven't been great for PLAYSTUDIOS as its revenue has been rising slower than most other companies. Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to lift, which has kept the P/S from declining. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a relatively elevated price for a company with this sort of growth profile.

How Is PLAYSTUDIOS' Revenue Growth Trending?

PLAYSTUDIOS' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver moderate growth, and importantly, perform in line with the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 7.1% gain to the company's revenues. Revenue has also lifted 15% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably been satisfied with the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the eight analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 3.6% each year over the next three years. With the industry predicted to deliver 9.9% growth per annum, the company is positioned for a weaker revenue result.

With this information, we find it interesting that PLAYSTUDIOS is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited growth expectations and are willing to pay up for exposure to the stock. Maintaining these prices will be difficult to achieve as this level of revenue growth is likely to weigh down the shares eventually.

What Does PLAYSTUDIOS' P/S Mean For Investors?

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-sales ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

When you consider that PLAYSTUDIOS' revenue growth estimates are fairly muted compared to the broader industry, it's easy to see why we consider it unexpected to be trading at its current P/S ratio. When we see companies with a relatively weaker revenue outlook compared to the industry, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the moderate P/S lower. Circumstances like this present a risk to current and prospective investors who may see share prices fall if the low revenue growth impacts the sentiment.

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

If you're unsure about the strength of PLAYSTUDIOS' business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.