QPL International Holdings Limited (HKG:243) shares have retraced a considerable 26% in the last month, reversing a fair amount of their solid recent performance. The recent drop has obliterated the annual return, with the share price now down 6.9% over that longer period.

Since its price has dipped substantially, given about half the companies operating in Hong Kong's Semiconductor industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 1.4x, you may consider QPL International Holdings as an attractive investment with its 0.2x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Check out our latest analysis for QPL International Holdings

How Has QPL International Holdings Performed Recently?

For example, consider that QPL International Holdings' financial performance has been poor lately as its revenue has been in decline. Perhaps the market believes the recent revenue performance isn't good enough to keep up the industry, causing the P/S ratio to suffer. 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.

Although there are no analyst estimates available for QPL International Holdings, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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

QPL International Holdings' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the industry.

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 16%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 29% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 18% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this information, we are not surprised that QPL International Holdings is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. 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 QPL International Holdings' P/S?

The southerly movements of QPL International Holdings' shares means its P/S is now sitting at a pretty low level. We'd say the price-to-sales ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

As we suspected, our examination of QPL International Holdings revealed its shrinking revenue over the medium-term is contributing to its low P/S, given the industry is set to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 3 warning signs for QPL International Holdings that you should be aware of.

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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