There's No Escaping Youkeshu Technology Co.,Ltd's (SZSE:300209) Muted Revenues Despite A 28% Share Price Rise

Youkeshu Technology Co.,Ltd (SZSE:300209) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 28% after a shaky period beforehand. While recent buyers may be laughing, long-term holders might not be as pleased since the recent gain only brings the stock back to where it started a year ago.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Youkeshu TechnologyLtd may still be sending buy signals at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 2.6x, considering almost half of all companies in the Software industry in China have P/S ratios greater than 4.4x and even P/S higher than 7x aren't out of the ordinary. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

View our latest analysis for Youkeshu TechnologyLtd

How Youkeshu TechnologyLtd Has Been Performing

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Youkeshu TechnologyLtd over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/S is low because investors think the company won't do enough to avoid underperforming the broader industry in the near future. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

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

How Is Youkeshu TechnologyLtd's Revenue Growth Trending?

Youkeshu TechnologyLtd's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform 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 40%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 91% in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenue over that time.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 26% growth in the next 12 months, the company's downward momentum based on recent medium-term revenue results is a sobering picture.

With this in mind, we understand why Youkeshu TechnologyLtd's P/S is lower than most of its industry peers. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. 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 Youkeshu TechnologyLtd's P/S?

Despite Youkeshu TechnologyLtd's share price climbing recently, its P/S still lags most other companies. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

It's no surprise that Youkeshu TechnologyLtd maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Youkeshu TechnologyLtd that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Youkeshu TechnologyLtd, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.