Regal Holding Co., Ltd. (TWSE:4807) Held Back By Insufficient Growth Even After Shares Climb 30%

Despite an already strong run, Regal Holding Co., Ltd. (TWSE:4807) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 30% in the last thirty days. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 76%.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Regal Holding may still be sending buy signals at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.8x, considering almost half of all companies in the Luxury industry in Taiwan have P/S ratios greater than 1.5x and even P/S higher than 4x aren't out of the ordinary. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

Check out our latest analysis for Regal Holding

What Does Regal Holding's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

For example, consider that Regal Holding's financial performance has been poor lately as its revenue has been in decline. Perhaps the market believes the recent revenue performance isn't good enough to keep up the industry, causing the P/S ratio to suffer. 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.

We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Regal Holding's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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

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

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 5.8%. This means it has also seen a slide in revenue over the longer-term as revenue is down 31% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 13% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this information, we are not surprised that Regal Holding is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. However, we think shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Regal Holding's P/S close to the industry median. Generally, our preference is to limit the use of the price-to-sales ratio to establishing what the market thinks about the overall health of a company.

It's no surprise that Regal Holding maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. 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.

Having said that, be aware Regal Holding is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 2 of those make us uncomfortable.

If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.