Googol Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:301510) May Have Run Too Fast Too Soon With Recent 32% Price Plummet

Googol Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:301510) shareholders won't be pleased to see that the share price has had a very rough month, dropping 32% and undoing the prior period's positive performance. Longer-term shareholders will rue the drop in the share price, since it's now virtually flat for the year after a promising few quarters.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, given around half the companies in China's Electronic industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 3.5x, you may still consider Googol Technology as a stock to avoid entirely with its 33.4x 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Googol Technology

What Does Googol Technology's Recent Performance Look Like?

We'd have to say that with no tangible growth over the last year, Googol Technology's revenue has been unimpressive. It might be that many are expecting an improvement to the uninspiring revenue performance 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.

Although there are no analyst estimates available for Googol Technology, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Are Revenue Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/S?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's top line as the year before. Fortunately, a few good years before that means that it was still able to grow revenue by 22% in total over the last three years. So it appears to us that the company has had a mixed result in terms of growing revenue over that time.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 23% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker, based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.

With this information, we find it concerning that Googol Technology is trading at a P/S higher than the industry. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. 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.

What We Can Learn From Googol Technology's P/S?

Even after such a strong price drop, Googol Technology's P/S still exceeds the industry median significantly. 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 Googol 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. 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.

It is also worth noting that we have found 3 warning signs for Googol Technology (2 are significant!) that you need to take into consideration.

If you're unsure about the strength of Googol Technology's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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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.