When you see that almost half of the companies in the Luxury industry in Hong Kong have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 0.7x, Speedy Global Holdings Limited (HKG:540) looks to be giving off some buy signals with its 0.2x P/S ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.
View our latest analysis for Speedy Global Holdings
Speedy Global Holdings has been doing a decent job lately as it's been growing revenue at a reasonable pace. It might be that many expect the respectable revenue performance to degrade, which has repressed the P/S. Those who are bullish on Speedy Global Holdings will be hoping that this isn't the case, so that they can pick up the stock at a lower valuation.
Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on Speedy Global Holdings will help you shine a light on its historical performance.In order to justify its P/S ratio, Speedy Global Holdings would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.
If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 5.2%. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen an unpleasant 23% overall drop in revenue. 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 20% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.
In light of this, it's understandable that Speedy Global Holdings' P/S would sit below the majority of other companies. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.
While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.
It's no surprise that Speedy Global Holdings maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. 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.
Having said that, be aware Speedy Global Holdings is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, you should know about.
If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Speedy Global Holdings, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.
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