Why Investors Shouldn't Be Surprised By Sing Tao News Corporation Limited's (HKG:1105) 26% Share Price Plunge

The Sing Tao News Corporation Limited (HKG:1105) share price has fared very poorly over the last month, falling by a substantial 26%. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 55% share price decline.

Following the heavy fall in price, it would be understandable if you think Sing Tao News is a stock with good investment prospects with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 0.2x, considering almost half the companies in Hong Kong's Media industry have P/S ratios above 0.7x. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

View our latest analysis for Sing Tao News

How Sing Tao News Has Been Performing

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Sing Tao News 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. Those who are bullish on Sing Tao News will be hoping that this isn't the case so that they can pick up the stock at a lower valuation.

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

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Sing Tao News?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Sing Tao News would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 3.0%. Unfortunately, that's brought it right back to where it started three years ago with revenue growth being virtually non-existent overall during that time. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 5.5% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker, based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.

With this in consideration, it's easy to understand why Sing Tao News' P/S falls short of the mark set by its industry peers. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

The Key Takeaway

Sing Tao News' P/S has taken a dip along with its share price. 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.

Our examination of Sing Tao News confirms that the company's revenue trends over the past three-year years are a key factor in its low price-to-sales ratio, as we suspected, given they fall short of current industry expectations. 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.

You need to take note of risks, for example - Sing Tao News has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is potentially serious) we think 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.