It's not a stretch to say that Asia Cement (China) Holdings Corporation's (HKG:743) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.6x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" for companies in the Basic Materials industry in Hong Kong, where the median P/S ratio is around 0.5x. While this might not raise any eyebrows, if the P/S ratio is not justified investors could be missing out on a potential opportunity or ignoring looming disappointment.

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See our latest analysis for Asia Cement (China) Holdings

How Has Asia Cement (China) Holdings Performed Recently?

Recent times have been more advantageous for Asia Cement (China) Holdings as its revenue hasn't fallen as much as the rest of the industry. It might be that many expect the comparatively superior revenue performance to vanish, which has kept the P/S from rising. You'd much rather the company continue improving its revenue if you still believe in the business. But at the very least, you'd be hoping the company doesn't fall back into the pack if your plan is to pick up some stock while it's not in favour.

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How Is Asia Cement (China) Holdings' Revenue Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Asia Cement (China) Holdings would need to produce growth that's similar to the industry.

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 21%. This means it has also seen a slide in revenue over the longer-term as revenue is down 50% 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.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the one analyst covering the company suggest revenue growth is heading into negative territory, declining 2.1% per year over the next three years. That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 5.3% per year.

With this information, we find it concerning that Asia Cement (China) Holdings is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. It seems most investors are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects, but the analyst cohort is not so confident this will happen. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as these declining revenues are likely to weigh on the share price eventually.

The Key Takeaway

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-sales ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

It appears that Asia Cement (China) Holdings currently trades on a higher than expected P/S for a company whose revenues are forecast to decline. With this in mind, we don't feel the current P/S is justified as declining revenues are unlikely to support a more positive sentiment for long. If we consider the revenue outlook, the P/S seems to indicate that potential investors may be paying a premium for the stock.

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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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