Oliver's Real Food Limited (ASX:OLI) 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 recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 53% loss during that time.

Since its price has dipped substantially, it would be understandable if you think Oliver's Real Food is a stock with good investment prospects with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 0.1x, considering almost half the companies in Australia's Hospitality industry have P/S ratios above 1.5x. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

View our latest analysis for Oliver's Real Food

What Does Oliver's Real Food's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

The recent revenue growth at Oliver's Real Food would have to be considered satisfactory if not spectacular. Perhaps the market believes the recent revenue performance might fall short of industry figures in the near future, leading to a reduced P/S. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders may have reason to be optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Oliver's Real Food's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Oliver's Real Food?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Oliver's Real Food's to be considered reasonable.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 7.2% last year. Ultimately though, it couldn't turn around the poor performance of the prior period, with revenue shrinking 6.1% in total over the last three years. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 3.3% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term revenue results is a sobering picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that Oliver's Real Food is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. However, we think shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.

What We Can Learn From Oliver's Real Food's P/S?

Oliver's Real Food's P/S has taken a dip along with its share price. While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.

It's no surprise that Oliver's Real Food maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Given the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that the share price will experience any significant movement in either direction in the near future if recent medium-term revenue trends persist.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Oliver's Real Food (3 can't be ignored) you should be aware of.

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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