WenYi Trinity Technology Co., Ltd (SHSE:600520) shareholders won't be pleased to see that the share price has had a very rough month, dropping 25% and undoing the prior period's positive performance. Still, a bad month hasn't completely ruined the past year with the stock gaining 35%, which is great even in a bull market.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, when almost half of the companies in China's Machinery industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 2.8x, you may still consider WenYi Trinity Technology as a stock not worth researching with its 8.6x P/S ratio. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.

How Has WenYi Trinity Technology Performed Recently?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at WenYi Trinity Technology over the last year, which is not ideal at all. Perhaps the market believes the company can do enough to outperform the rest of the industry in the near future, which is keeping the P/S ratio high. However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.

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

How Is WenYi Trinity Technology's Revenue Growth Trending?

In order to justify its P/S ratio, WenYi Trinity Technology would need to produce outstanding growth that's well in excess of the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 26% decrease to the company's top line. That put a dampener on the good run it was having over the longer-term as its three-year revenue growth is still a noteworthy 22% in total. So we can start by confirming that the company has generally done a good job of growing revenue over that time, even though it had some hiccups along the way.

This is in contrast to the rest of the industry, which is expected to grow by 25% over the next year, materially higher than the company's recent medium-term annualised growth rates.

With this information, we find it concerning that WenYi Trinity Technology is trading at a P/S higher than the industry. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent revenue trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Final Word

WenYi Trinity Technology's shares may have suffered, but its P/S remains high. 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.

Our examination of WenYi Trinity Technology revealed its poor three-year revenue trends aren't detracting from the P/S as much as we though, given they look worse than current industry expectations. When we see slower than industry revenue growth but an elevated P/S, there's considerable risk of the share price declining, sending the P/S lower. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these the share price as being reasonable.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 1 warning sign for WenYi Trinity Technology that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on WenYi Trinity Technology, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.