Even With A 26% Surge, Cautious Investors Are Not Rewarding Best Agrolife Limited's (NSE:BESTAGRO) Performance Completely

Best Agrolife Limited (NSE:BESTAGRO) shareholders are no doubt pleased to see that the share price has bounced 26% in the last month, although it is still struggling to make up recently lost ground. Not all shareholders will be feeling jubilant, since the share price is still down a very disappointing 36% in the last twelve months.

Although its price has surged higher, Best Agrolife may still be sending buy signals at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.5x, considering almost half of all companies in the Chemicals industry in India have P/S ratios greater than 1.4x and even P/S higher than 4x 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 reduced P/S.

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View our latest analysis for Best Agrolife

What Does Best Agrolife's Recent Performance Look Like?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Best Agrolife over the last year, which is not ideal at all. It might be that many expect the disappointing revenue performance to continue or accelerate, which has repressed the P/S. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

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

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The Low P/S Ratio?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as low as Best Agrolife's is when the company's growth is on track to lag the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 16% decrease to the company's top line. Even so, admirably revenue has lifted 51% in aggregate from three years ago, notwithstanding the last 12 months. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a very good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

It's interesting to note that the rest of the industry is similarly expected to grow by 13% over the next year, which is fairly even with the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

In light of this, it's peculiar that Best Agrolife's P/S sits below the majority of other companies. It may be that most investors are not convinced the company can maintain recent growth rates.

The Key Takeaway

Despite Best Agrolife's share price climbing recently, its P/S still lags most other companies. While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.

The fact that Best Agrolife currently trades at a low P/S relative to the industry is unexpected considering its recent three-year growth is in line with the wider industry forecast. There could be some unobserved threats to revenue preventing the P/S ratio from matching the company's performance. revenue trends suggest that the risk of a price decline is low, investors appear to perceive a possibility of revenue volatility in the future.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Best Agrolife (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of.

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.