With a median price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of close to 1.6x in the Professional Services industry in the United States, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about FiscalNote Holdings, Inc.'s (NYSE:NOTE) P/S ratio of 1.2x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/S without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.

View our latest analysis for FiscalNote Holdings

What Does FiscalNote Holdings' Recent Performance Look Like?

With revenue growth that's inferior to most other companies of late, FiscalNote Holdings has been relatively sluggish. It might be that many expect the uninspiring revenue performance to strengthen positively, which has kept the P/S ratio from falling. However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on FiscalNote Holdings.

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

The only time you'd be comfortable seeing a P/S like FiscalNote Holdings' is when the company's growth is tracking the industry closely.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 3.8%. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 73% overall rise in revenue, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the five analysts covering the company suggest revenue growth is heading into negative territory, declining 1.9% over the next year. That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 6.4%.

With this information, we find it concerning that FiscalNote 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. There's a good chance these shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with the negative growth outlook.

The Key Takeaway

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.

It appears that FiscalNote 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 the declining revenues were to materialize in the form of a declining share price, shareholders will be feeling the pinch.

It is also worth noting that we have found 3 warning signs for FiscalNote Holdings (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you need to take into consideration.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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