Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Resources Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGP) share price has dived 27% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. The recent drop completes a disastrous twelve months for shareholders, who are sitting on a 57% loss during that time.

Since its price has dipped substantially, Resources Connection's price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.3x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the Professional Services industry in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 1.1x and even P/S above 4x are quite common. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

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View our latest analysis for Resources Connection

What Does Resources Connection's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

While the industry has experienced revenue growth lately, Resources Connection's revenue has gone into reverse gear, which is not great. Perhaps the P/S remains low as investors think the prospects of strong revenue growth aren't on the horizon. If you still like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

Keen to find out how analysts think Resources Connection's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start .

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

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as low as Resources Connection's is when the company's growth is on track to lag 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 16%. As a result, revenue from three years ago have also fallen 26% overall. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 1.3% as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to expand by 6.9%, which is noticeably more attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Resources Connection's P/S sits below the majority of other companies. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

What We Can Learn From Resources Connection's P/S?

The southerly movements of Resources Connection's shares means its P/S is now sitting at a pretty low level. 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.

As expected, our analysis of Resources Connection's analyst forecasts confirms that the company's underwhelming revenue outlook is a major contributor to its low P/S. Shareholders' pessimism on the revenue prospects for the company seems to be the main contributor to the depressed P/S. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 1 warning sign for Resources Connection that you need to be mindful of.

If you're unsure about the strength of Resources Connection's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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