You may think that with a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.4x Strawbear Entertainment Group (HKG:2125) is a stock worth checking out, seeing as almost half of all the Entertainment companies in Hong Kong have P/S ratios greater than 2.2x and even P/S higher than 6x aren't out of the ordinary. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.
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View our latest analysis for Strawbear Entertainment Group
With revenue growth that's exceedingly strong of late, Strawbear Entertainment Group has been doing very well. Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to dwindle, which has kept the P/S suppressed. Those who are bullish on Strawbear Entertainment Group will be hoping that this isn't the case, so that they can pick up the stock at a lower valuation.
We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Strawbear Entertainment Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Strawbear Entertainment Group's to be considered reasonable.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 34% last year. Despite this strong recent growth, it's still struggling to catch up as its three-year revenue frustratingly shrank by 34% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.
Weighing that medium-term revenue trajectory against the broader industry's one-year forecast for expansion of 12% shows it's an unpleasant look.
With this information, we are not surprised that Strawbear Entertainment Group is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.
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.
Our examination of Strawbear Entertainment Group confirms that the company's shrinking revenue over the past medium-term is a key factor in its low price-to-sales ratio, given the industry is projected to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Given the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that the share price will experience any significant movement in either direction in the near future if recent medium-term revenue trends persist.
Before you take the next step, you should know about the 2 warning signs for Strawbear Entertainment Group (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that we have uncovered.
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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