With a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 5.1x Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE:RCUS) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all the Biotechs companies in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 10.1x and even P/S higher than 57x 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 limited.

Check out our latest analysis for Arcus Biosciences

What Does Arcus Biosciences' Recent Performance Look Like?

With revenue growth that's inferior to most other companies of late, Arcus Biosciences has been relatively sluggish. Perhaps the market is expecting the current trend of poor revenue growth to continue, which has kept the P/S suppressed. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

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

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Arcus Biosciences?

Arcus Biosciences' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 119% gain to the company's top line. Spectacularly, three year revenue growth has ballooned by several orders of magnitude, thanks in part to the last 12 months of revenue growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have been over the moon with those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 1.2% per year as estimated by the ten analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to expand by 119% per annum, which is noticeably more attractive.

In light of this, it's understandable that Arcus Biosciences' P/S sits below the majority of other companies. It seems most investors are expecting to see limited future growth and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

What Does Arcus Biosciences' P/S Mean For Investors?

It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

As we suspected, our examination of Arcus Biosciences' analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior revenue outlook is contributing to its low P/S. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Arcus Biosciences you should know about.

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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