To the annoyance of some shareholders, DirectBooking Technology Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:ZDAI) shares are down a considerable 39% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 79% share price decline.
Since its price has dipped substantially, DirectBooking Technology may be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.3x, since almost half of all companies in the Transportation industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 1.1x and even P/S higher than 4x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.
Check out our latest analysis for DirectBooking Technology
DirectBooking Technology certainly has been doing a great job lately as it's been growing its revenue at a really rapid pace. It might be that many expect the strong revenue performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/S ratio. If that doesn't eventuate, then existing shareholders have reason to be quite optimistic about the future direction of the share price.
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 DirectBooking Technology's earnings, revenue and cash flow.In order to justify its P/S ratio, DirectBooking Technology would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 43% last year. Pleasingly, revenue has also lifted 84% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.
Comparing that to the industry, which is only predicted to deliver 7.8% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is stronger based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.
With this in mind, we find it intriguing that DirectBooking Technology's P/S isn't as high compared to that of its industry peers. It looks like most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.
DirectBooking Technology's recently weak share price has pulled its P/S back below other Transportation companies. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.
Our examination of DirectBooking Technology revealed its three-year revenue trends aren't boosting its P/S anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current industry expectations. When we see strong revenue with faster-than-industry growth, we assume there are some significant underlying risks to the company's ability to make money which is applying downwards pressure on the P/S ratio. While recent revenue trends over the past medium-term suggest that the risk of a price decline is low, investors appear to perceive a likelihood of revenue fluctuations in the future.
Plus, you should also learn about these 3 warning signs we've spotted with DirectBooking Technology (including 2 which shouldn't be ignored).
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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.