When close to half the companies in the Real Estate industry in the United States have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") below 1.6x, you may consider Tejon Ranch Co. (NYSE:TRC) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 10.2x P/S ratio.   Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty.  

NYSE:TRC Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry April 24th 2024

How Has Tejon Ranch Performed Recently?

Tejon Ranch 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.   One possibility is that the P/S ratio is high because investors think this poor revenue performance will turn the corner.  However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.    

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Tejon Ranch.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The High P/S Ratio?  

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/S as steep as Tejon Ranch's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the industry decidedly.  

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 44%.   This has soured the latest three-year period, which nevertheless managed to deliver a decent 18% overall rise in revenue.  Although it's been a bumpy ride, it's still fair to say the revenue growth recently has been mostly respectable for the company.  

Shifting to the future, estimates from the one analyst covering the company suggest revenue growth is heading into negative territory, declining 1.5% over the next year.  That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 12%.

In light of this, it's alarming that Tejon Ranch's P/S sits above the majority of other companies.  It seems most investors are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects, but the analyst cohort is not so confident this will happen.  Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as these declining revenues are likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.  

What We Can Learn From Tejon Ranch's P/S?

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-sales ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

We've established that Tejon Ranch currently trades on a much higher than expected P/S for a company whose revenues are forecast to decline.  Right now we aren't comfortable with the high P/S as the predicted future revenue decline likely to impact the positive sentiment that's propping up the P/S.  Unless these conditions improve markedly, it'll be a challenging time for shareholders.    

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 1 warning sign for Tejon Ranch that you need to be mindful of.  

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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