Benign Growth For Green Packet Berhad (KLSE:GPACKET) Underpins Its Share Price

With a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x Green Packet Berhad (KLSE:GPACKET) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all the Communications companies in Malaysia have P/S ratios greater than 2.1x and even P/S higher than 5x are not unusual. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

View our latest analysis for Green Packet Berhad

How Green Packet Berhad Has Been Performing

Green Packet Berhad has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue at a solid pace. It might be that many expect the respectable revenue performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the P/S. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

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

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

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Green Packet Berhad would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 24% gain to the company's top line. However, this wasn't enough as the latest three year period has seen the company endure a nasty 4.4% drop in revenue in aggregate. So unfortunately, we have to acknowledge that the company has not done a great job of growing revenues over that time.

Weighing that medium-term revenue trajectory against the broader industry's one-year forecast for expansion of 25% shows it's an unpleasant look.

With this information, we are not surprised that Green Packet Berhad is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.

The Final Word

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.

As we suspected, our examination of Green Packet Berhad revealed its shrinking revenue over the medium-term is contributing to its low P/S, given the industry is set to grow. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Given the current circumstances, it seems unlikely that the share price will experience any significant movement in either direction in the near future if recent medium-term revenue trends persist.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for Green Packet Berhad (3 are a bit concerning) 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.