Unfortunately for some shareholders, the Xiao-I Corporation (NASDAQ:AIXI) share price has dived 31% in the last thirty days, prolonging recent pain. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 92% share price decline.
Since its price has dipped substantially, Xiao-I may be sending very bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x, since almost half of all companies in the Software industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 4.8x and even P/S higher than 10x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly reduced P/S.
Check out our latest analysis for Xiao-I
As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Xiao-I over the last year, which is not ideal at all. Perhaps the market believes the recent revenue performance isn't good enough to keep up the industry, causing the P/S ratio to suffer. Those who are bullish on Xiao-I 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 Xiao-I's earnings, revenue and cash flow.The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as depressed as Xiao-I's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the industry decidedly.
Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 26% decrease to the company's top line. However, a few very strong years before that means that it was still able to grow revenue by an impressive 34% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, while they would have preferred to keep the run going, shareholders would definitely welcome the medium-term rates of revenue growth.
This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 34% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.
With this in consideration, it's easy to understand why Xiao-I's P/S falls short of the mark set by its industry peers. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.
Shares in Xiao-I have plummeted and its P/S has followed suit. 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.
Our examination of Xiao-I confirms that the company's revenue trends over the past three-year years are a key factor in its low price-to-sales ratio, as we suspected, given they fall short of current industry expectations. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it's hard to see the share price experience a reversal of fortunes anytime soon.
It is also worth noting that we have found 5 warning signs for Xiao-I (4 don't sit too well with us!) that you need to take into consideration.
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.