Revenues Tell The Story For Spacenet Enterprises India Limited (NSE:SPCENET)

You may think that with a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 10.1x Spacenet Enterprises India Limited (NSE:SPCENET) is a stock to potentially avoid, seeing as almost half of all the Capital Markets companies in India have P/S ratios under 7.6x and even P/S lower than 2x aren't out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the elevated P/S.

See our latest analysis for Spacenet Enterprises India

What Does Spacenet Enterprises India's Recent Performance Look Like?

For instance, Spacenet Enterprises India's receding revenue in recent times would have to be some food for thought. One possibility is that the P/S is high because investors think the company will still do enough to outperform the broader industry in the near future. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Although there are no analyst estimates available for Spacenet Enterprises India, 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 outperform the industry for P/S ratios like Spacenet Enterprises India's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 4.3% decrease to the company's top line. Spectacularly, three year revenue growth has ballooned by several orders of magnitude, despite the drawbacks experienced in the last 12 months. Accordingly, shareholders will be pleased, but also have some serious questions to ponder about the last 12 months.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 14% over the next year, materially lower than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we can see why Spacenet Enterprises India is trading at such a high P/S compared to the industry. It seems most investors are expecting this strong growth to continue and are willing to pay more for the stock.

The Key Takeaway

We'd say the price-to-sales ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that Spacenet Enterprises India maintains its high P/S on the strength of its recent three-year growth being higher than the wider industry forecast, as expected. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/S as they are quite confident revenue aren't under threat. Barring any significant changes to the company's ability to make money, the share price should continue to be propped up.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider before investing and we've discovered 2 warning signs for Spacenet Enterprises India that you should be aware of.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.