Alpha Teknova, Inc. (NASDAQ:TKNO) shareholders won't be pleased to see that the share price has had a very rough month, dropping 31% and undoing the prior period's positive performance. The good news is that in the last year, the stock has shone bright like a diamond, gaining 129%.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, you could still be forgiven for thinking Alpha Teknova is a stock to steer clear of with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 9.7x, considering almost half the companies in the United States' Life Sciences industry have P/S ratios below 3.1x. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.

View our latest analysis for Alpha Teknova

What Does Alpha Teknova's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

Alpha Teknova hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining revenue compares poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth in their revenues on average. Perhaps the market is expecting the poor revenue to reverse, justifying it's current high P/S.. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Keen to find out how analysts think Alpha Teknova's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

Is There Enough Revenue Growth Forecasted For Alpha Teknova?

Alpha Teknova's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's top line as the year before. Whilst it's an improvement, it wasn't enough to get the company out of the hole it was in, with revenue down 1.6% overall from three years ago. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 17% per annum as estimated by the six analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 6.6% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this in mind, it's not hard to understand why Alpha Teknova's P/S is high relative to its industry peers. Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.

The Bottom Line On Alpha Teknova's P/S

Even after such a strong price drop, Alpha Teknova's P/S still exceeds the industry median significantly. 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.

We've established that Alpha Teknova maintains its high P/S on the strength of its forecasted revenue growth being higher than the the rest of the Life Sciences industry, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/S as they are quite confident future revenues aren't under threat. Unless the analysts have really missed the mark, these strong revenue forecasts should keep the share price buoyant.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Alpha Teknova (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about.

If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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