Shenzhen Increase Technology Co., Ltd.'s (SZSE:300713) 25% Share Price Plunge Could Signal Some Risk

To the annoyance of some shareholders, Shenzhen Increase Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300713) shares are down a considerable 25% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 34% share price drop.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, when almost half of the companies in China's Electrical industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 2.1x, you may still consider Shenzhen Increase Technology as a stock not worth researching with its 5.7x 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 so lofty.

See our latest analysis for Shenzhen Increase Technology

What Does Shenzhen Increase Technology's Recent Performance Look Like?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Shenzhen Increase Technology over the last year, which is not ideal at all. It might be that many expect the company to still outplay most other companies over the coming period, which has kept the P/S from collapsing. However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.

Want the full picture on earnings, revenue and cash flow for the company? Then our free report on Shenzhen Increase Technology will help you shine a light on its historical performance.

How Is Shenzhen Increase Technology's Revenue Growth Trending?

Shenzhen Increase Technology's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very strong growth, and importantly, perform much better than the industry.

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 5.0%. This has soured the latest three-year period, which nevertheless managed to deliver a decent 12% overall rise in revenue. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 23% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this in mind, we find it worrying that Shenzhen Increase Technology'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. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent revenue trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Key Takeaway

Shenzhen Increase Technology's shares may have suffered, but its P/S remains high. 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 Shenzhen Increase Technology 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. Right now we aren't comfortable with the high P/S as this revenue performance isn't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless there is a significant improvement in the company's medium-term performance, it will be difficult to prevent the P/S ratio from declining to a more reasonable level.

Having said that, be aware Shenzhen Increase Technology is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, 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.

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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.