With a median price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of close to 0.6x in the Real Estate industry in Hong Kong, you could be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Rykadan Capital Limited's (HKG:2288) P/S ratio of 0.3x. However, investors might be overlooking a clear opportunity or potential setback if there is no rational basis for the P/S.
Check out our latest analysis for Rykadan Capital
Rykadan Capital certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing its revenue at a really rapid pace. The P/S is probably moderate because investors think this strong revenue growth might not be enough to outperform the broader industry in the near future. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
Although there are no analyst estimates available for Rykadan Capital, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.The only time you'd be comfortable seeing a P/S like Rykadan Capital's is when the company's growth is tracking the industry closely.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered an explosive gain to the company's top line. The amazing performance means it was also able to grow revenue by 92% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.
Comparing that to the industry, which is only predicted to deliver 4.5% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is stronger based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.
In light of this, it's curious that Rykadan Capital's P/S sits in line with the majority of other companies. It may be that most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.
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.
To our surprise, Rykadan Capital revealed its three-year revenue trends aren't contributing to its P/S as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current industry expectations. It'd be fair to assume that potential risks the company faces could be the contributing factor to the lower than expected P/S. While recent revenue trends over the past medium-term suggest that the risk of a price decline is low, investors appear to see the likelihood of revenue fluctuations in the future.
Before you take the next step, you should know about the 2 warning signs for Rykadan Capital that we have uncovered.
If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).
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