Tus-Design Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300500) Stock Catapults 29% Though Its Price And Business Still Lag The Industry

Tus-Design Group Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300500) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 29% gain and recovering from prior weakness. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 27%.

Even after such a large jump in price, Tus-Design Group's price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.4x might still make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the wider Professional Services industry in China, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 3.8x and even P/S above 9x are quite common. However, the P/S might be quite low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Check out our latest analysis for Tus-Design Group

How Has Tus-Design Group Performed Recently?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Tus-Design Group 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. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling 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 Tus-Design Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

Tus-Design Group's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling revenue, and importantly, perform much worse 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 12%. This means it has also seen a slide in revenue over the longer-term as revenue is down 28% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 25% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this in mind, we understand why Tus-Design Group's P/S is lower than most of its industry peers. However, we think shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

What We Can Learn From Tus-Design Group's P/S?

Shares in Tus-Design Group have risen appreciably however, its P/S is still subdued. It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

It's no surprise that Tus-Design Group maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises either. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Tus-Design Group that you should be aware of.

If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.