You may think that with a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.2x CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI) is a stock worth checking out, seeing as almost half of all the Oil and Gas companies in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 1.9x 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.

See our latest analysis for CVR Energy

What Does CVR Energy's Recent Performance Look Like?

While the industry has experienced revenue growth lately, CVR Energy's revenue has gone into reverse gear, which is not great. The P/S ratio is probably low because investors think this poor revenue performance isn't going to get any better. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on CVR Energy will help you uncover what's on the horizon.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For CVR Energy?

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

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 19%. This has soured the latest three-year period, which nevertheless managed to deliver a decent 26% overall rise in revenue. Although it's been a bumpy ride, it's still fair to say the revenue growth recently has been mostly respectable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should bring diminished returns, with revenue decreasing 6.4% as estimated by the five analysts watching the company. That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 12%.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that CVR Energy's P/S is closely matching its industry peers. However, shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

What Does CVR Energy's P/S Mean For Investors?

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 CVR Energy's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking revenue is contributing to its low P/S. As other companies in the industry are forecasting revenue growth, CVR Energy's poor outlook justifies its low P/S ratio. 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 - CVR Energy has 2 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) 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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