AudioEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEYE) shares have continued their recent momentum with a 53% gain in the last month alone. The last 30 days were the cherry on top of the stock's 308% gain in the last year, which is nothing short of spectacular.

Following the firm bounce in price, AudioEye's price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 8.7x might make it look like a strong sell right now compared to other companies in the Software industry in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios below 4.3x and even P/S below 1.6x are quite common. However, the P/S might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

What Does AudioEye's Recent Performance Look Like?

Recent times haven't been great for AudioEye as its revenue has been rising slower than most other companies. It might be that many expect the uninspiring revenue performance to recover significantly, which has kept the P/S ratio from collapsing. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

How Is AudioEye's Revenue Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should far outperform the industry for P/S ratios like AudioEye's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 2.8% gain to the company's revenues. Pleasingly, revenue has also lifted 44% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 13% as estimated by the three analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to expand by 14%, which is not materially different.

With this information, we find it interesting that AudioEye is trading at a high P/S compared to the industry. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly average growth expectations and are willing to pay up for exposure to the stock. These shareholders may be setting themselves up for disappointment if the P/S falls to levels more in line with the growth outlook.

What Does AudioEye's P/S Mean For Investors?

AudioEye's P/S has grown nicely over the last month thanks to a handy boost in the share price. 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.

Seeing as its revenues are forecast to grow in line with the wider industry, it would appear that AudioEye currently trades on a higher than expected P/S. Right now we are uncomfortable with the relatively high share price as the predicted future revenues aren't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. A positive change is needed in order to justify the current price-to-sales ratio.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with AudioEye (at least 1 which is a bit unpleasant), and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.