Unfortunately for some shareholders, the AIM Vaccine Co., Ltd. (HKG:6660) share price has dived 25% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 53% share price decline.

Since its price has dipped substantially, AIM Vaccine may be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3.6x, since almost half of all companies in the Biotechs industry in Hong Kong have P/S ratios greater than 9.8x and even P/S higher than 31x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so limited.

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Check out our latest analysis for AIM Vaccine

How Has AIM Vaccine Performed Recently?

Recent times haven't been great for AIM Vaccine as its revenue has been rising slower than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the uninspiring revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the growth of the P/S ratio. If you still like the company, you'd be hoping revenue doesn't get any worse and that you could pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

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

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

AIM Vaccine's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling revenue, and importantly, perform much worse than the industry.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 8.2% last year. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen an unpleasant 18% overall drop in revenue. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the one analyst covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 62% each year over the next three years. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 55% per year growth forecast for the broader industry.

With this information, we find it odd that AIM Vaccine is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Key Takeaway

Shares in AIM Vaccine have plummeted and its P/S has followed suit. 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.

AIM Vaccine's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior revenue outlook isn't contributing to its P/S anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. When we see strong growth forecasts like this, we can only assume potential risks are what might be placing significant pressure on the P/S ratio. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future revenues could see a lot of volatility.

It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for AIM Vaccine (1 is significant!) that you need to take into consideration.

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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