PubMatic, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:PUBM) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3.7x may look like a poor investment opportunity when you consider close to half the companies in the Media industry in the United States have P/S ratios below 1x. However, the P/S might be quite high for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

What Does PubMatic's Recent Performance Look Like?

With revenue growth that's superior to most other companies of late, PubMatic has been doing relatively well. It seems that many are expecting the strong revenue performance to persist, which has raised the P/S. If not, then existing shareholders might be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

How Is PubMatic's Revenue Growth Trending?

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

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 8.2% last year. Pleasingly, revenue has also lifted 70% 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.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the ten analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 11% over the next year. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 4.6% growth forecast for the broader industry.

With this information, we can see why PubMatic 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.

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

It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

Our look into PubMatic shows that its P/S ratio remains high on the merit of its strong future revenues. Right now shareholders are comfortable with the P/S as they are quite confident future revenues aren't under threat. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.

You always need to take note of risks, for example - PubMatic has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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.

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