With a median price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of close to 0.5x in the Machinery industry in Singapore, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Darco Water Technologies Limited's (SGX:BLR) P/S ratio of 0.1x. 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.
Check out our latest analysis for Darco Water Technologies
What Does Darco Water Technologies' Recent Performance Look Like?
Recent times have been quite advantageous for Darco Water Technologies as its revenue has been rising very briskly. Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to taper off, which has kept the P/S from rising. 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 not quite in favour.
Although there are no analyst estimates available for Darco Water Technologies, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Do Revenue Forecasts Match The P/S Ratio?
In order to justify its P/S ratio, Darco Water Technologies would need to produce growth that's similar to the industry.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 42% gain to the company's top line. Still, revenue has barely risen at all from three years ago in total, which is not ideal. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.
Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 104% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker, based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.
With this information, we find it interesting that Darco Water Technologies is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. Apparently many investors in the company are less bearish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock right now. They may be setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with recent growth rates.
The Key Takeaway
It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.
We've established that Darco Water Technologies' average P/S is a bit surprising since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider industry forecast. Right now we are uncomfortable with the P/S as this revenue performance isn't likely to support a more positive sentiment for long. Unless there is a significant improvement in the company's medium-term performance, it will be difficult to prevent the P/S ratio from declining to a more reasonable level.