Radius Residential Care Limited (NZSE:RAD) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 29% after a shaky period beforehand. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 45%.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Radius Residential Care may still be sending buy signals at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.4x, considering almost half of all companies in the Healthcare industry in New Zealand have P/S ratios greater than 1.3x and even P/S higher than 5x aren't out of the ordinary. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

View our latest analysis for Radius Residential Care

How Has Radius Residential Care Performed Recently?

With revenue growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Radius Residential Care has been doing relatively well. One possibility is that the P/S ratio is low because investors think this strong revenue performance might be less impressive moving forward. 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.

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Radius Residential Care.

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

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as low as Radius Residential Care's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the industry.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 17% last year. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow revenue by 40% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 2.9% per annum as estimated by the two analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to expand by 8.5% per annum, which is noticeably more attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Radius Residential Care's P/S sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Final Word

Radius Residential Care's stock price has surged recently, but its but its P/S still remains modest. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Radius Residential Care's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior revenue outlook is contributing to its low P/S. Shareholders' pessimism on the revenue prospects for the company seems to be the main contributor to the depressed P/S. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

You need to take note of risks, for example - Radius Residential Care has 3 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

Of course, profitable companies with a history of great earnings growth are generally safer bets. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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