Despite an already strong run, Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 64% in the last thirty days.    The annual gain comes to 253% following the latest surge, making investors sit up and take notice.  

Since its price has surged higher, you could be forgiven for thinking Sweetgreen is a stock to steer clear of with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 6.2x, considering almost half the companies in the United States' Hospitality industry have P/S ratios below 1.3x.   Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.  

NYSE:SG Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry May 21st 2024

How Has Sweetgreen Performed Recently?

Sweetgreen could be doing better as it's been growing revenue less than most other companies lately.   Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to undergo a reversal of fortunes, which has elevated the P/S ratio.  If not, then existing shareholders may be very nervous about the viability of the share price.    

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

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The High P/S Ratio?  

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 25% gain to the company's top line.   The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 169% overall rise in revenue, aided by its short-term performance.  Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.  

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 17%  each year as estimated by the nine analysts watching the company.  Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 12% per annum, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we can see why Sweetgreen is trading at such a high P/S compared to the industry.  Apparently shareholders aren't keen to offload something that is potentially eyeing a more prosperous future.  

The Final Word

Shares in Sweetgreen have seen a strong upwards swing lately, which has really helped boost its P/S figure.      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 look into Sweetgreen shows that its P/S ratio remains high on the merit of its strong future revenues.  It appears that shareholders are confident in the company's future revenues, which is propping up the P/S.  Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.    

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for Sweetgreen that you need to be mindful of.  

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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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.