Revenues Not Telling The Story For Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSE:XLY) After Shares Rise 44%

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (TSE:XLY) shareholders have had their patience rewarded with a 44% share price jump in the last month. The annual gain comes to 283% following the latest surge, making investors sit up and take notice.

Following the firm bounce in price, given close to half the companies operating in Canada's Pharmaceuticals industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 0.6x, you may consider Auxly Cannabis Group as a stock to potentially avoid with its 1.2x P/S ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's as high as it is.

AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early.

View our latest analysis for Auxly Cannabis Group

How Has Auxly Cannabis Group Performed Recently?

Revenue has risen firmly for Auxly Cannabis Group recently, which is pleasing to see. It might be that many expect the respectable revenue performance to beat most other companies over the coming period, which has increased investors’ willingness to pay up for the stock. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability 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 Auxly Cannabis Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Is There Enough Revenue Growth Forecasted For Auxly Cannabis Group?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should outperform the industry for P/S ratios like Auxly Cannabis Group's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 27% gain to the company's top line. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 33% overall rise in revenue, aided by its short-term performance. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 21% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker, based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.

With this in mind, we find it worrying that Auxly Cannabis Group's P/S exceeds that of its industry peers. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. There's a good chance existing shareholders are setting themselves up for future disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with recent growth rates.

The Key Takeaway

The large bounce in Auxly Cannabis Group's shares has lifted the company's P/S handsomely. 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.

The fact that Auxly Cannabis Group currently trades on a higher P/S relative to the industry is an oddity, since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider industry forecast. When we observe slower-than-industry revenue growth alongside a high P/S ratio, we assume there to be a significant risk of the share price decreasing, which would result in a lower P/S ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these the share price as being reasonable.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Auxly Cannabis Group you should know about.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.