Gray Media, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) Held Back By Insufficient Growth Even After Shares Climb 29%

Gray Media, Inc. (NYSE:GTN) shareholders would be excited to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 29% gain and recovering from prior weakness. Not all shareholders will be feeling jubilant, since the share price is still down a very disappointing 39% in the last twelve months.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Gray Media may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x, since almost half of all companies in the Media industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 0.9x and even P/S higher than 4x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

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What Does Gray Media's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

Gray Media certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue more than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/S ratio is low because investors think this strong revenue performance might be less impressive moving forward. If the company manages to stay the course, then investors should be rewarded with a share price that matches its revenue figures.

Keen to find out how analysts think Gray Media's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

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

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 11% last year. This was backed up an excellent period prior to see revenue up by 51% in total over the last three years. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing revenues over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with revenue decreasing 3.5% per year as estimated by the six analysts watching the company. With the industry predicted to deliver 2.7% growth per annum, that's a disappointing outcome.

In light of this, it's understandable that Gray Media's P/S would sit below the majority of other companies. However, shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

What We Can Learn From Gray Media's P/S?

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Gray Media's P/S close to the industry median. 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.

With revenue forecasts that are inferior to the rest of the industry, it's no surprise that Gray Media's 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. Unless there's material change, it's hard to envision a situation where the stock price will rise drastically.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 3 warning signs for Gray Media (2 make us uncomfortable!) that we have uncovered.

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.