Made Tech Group Plc (LON:MTEC) shareholders are no doubt pleased to see that the share price has bounced 27% in the last month, although it is still struggling to make up recently lost ground. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 35%.
Even after such a large jump in price, considering around half the companies operating in the United Kingdom's IT industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 1.7x, you may still consider Made Tech Group as an solid investment opportunity with its 1.1x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.
View our latest analysis for Made Tech Group
Recent times haven't been great for Made Tech Group as its revenue has been rising slower than most other companies. It seems that many are expecting the uninspiring revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the growth of the P/S ratio. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.
Keen to find out how analysts think Made Tech Group's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Made Tech Group's to be considered reasonable.
Taking a look back first, we see that the company grew revenue by an impressive 20% last year. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow revenue by 59% in total over the last three years. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.
Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 11% per year as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 7.9% per annum growth forecast for the broader industry.
With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that Made Tech Group's P/S sits behind most of its industry peers. It looks like most investors are not convinced at all that the company can achieve future growth expectations.
The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Made Tech Group's P/S close to the industry median. While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.
Made Tech Group's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior revenue outlook isn't contributing to its P/S anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. There could be some major risk factors that are placing downward pressure on the P/S ratio. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future revenues could see a lot of volatility.
Before you take the next step, you should know about the 2 warning signs for Made Tech Group that we have uncovered.
If you're unsure about the strength of Made Tech Group'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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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.