Insufficient Growth At Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) Hampers Share Price

You may think that with a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.2x Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) is a stock worth checking out, seeing as almost half of all the Personal Products companies in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 1.4x and even P/S higher than 5x 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.

See our latest analysis for Nu Skin Enterprises

What Does Nu Skin Enterprises' Recent Performance Look Like?

Nu Skin Enterprises hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining revenue compares poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth in their revenues on average. It seems that many are expecting the poor revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the P/S ratio. So while you could say the stock is cheap, investors will be looking for improvement before they see it as good value.

Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on Nu Skin Enterprises will help you uncover what's on the horizon.

Is There Any Revenue Growth Forecasted For Nu Skin Enterprises?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Nu Skin Enterprises' to be considered reasonable.

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 9.7%. This means it has also seen a slide in revenue over the longer-term as revenue is down 35% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the three analysts covering the company suggest revenue growth is heading into negative territory, declining 3.6% over the next year. That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 6.8%.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that Nu Skin Enterprises' P/S is closely matching its industry peers. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

What Does Nu Skin Enterprises' P/S Mean For Investors?

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.

With revenue forecasts that are inferior to the rest of the industry, it's no surprise that Nu Skin Enterprises' P/S is on the lower end of the spectrum. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. It's hard to see the share price rising strongly in the near future under these circumstances.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for Nu Skin Enterprises (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you need to be mindful of.

It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So if growing profitability aligns with your idea of a great company, take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a low P/E).

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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.