Those holding Cara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARA) shares would be relieved that the share price has rebounded 27% in the last thirty days, but it needs to keep going to repair the recent damage it has caused to investor portfolios. Still, the 30-day jump doesn't change the fact that longer term shareholders have seen their stock decimated by the 88% share price drop in the last twelve months.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, Cara Therapeutics may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.2x, since almost half of all companies in the Pharmaceuticals industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 2.8x and even P/S higher than 12x are not unusual. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

How Cara Therapeutics Has Been Performing

While the industry has experienced revenue growth lately, Cara Therapeutics' revenue has gone into reverse gear, which is not great. It seems that many are expecting the poor revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the P/S ratio. So while you could say the stock is cheap, investors will be looking for improvement before they see it as good value.

How Is Cara Therapeutics' Revenue Growth Trending?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Cara Therapeutics' to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 61% decrease to the company's top line. This means it has also seen a slide in revenue over the longer-term as revenue is down 87% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Looking ahead now, revenue is anticipated to slump, contracting by 14% each year during the coming three years according to the five analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the broader industry is forecast to expand by 19% per annum, which paints a poor picture.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that Cara Therapeutics' P/S is closely matching its industry peers. However, shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.

The Bottom Line On Cara Therapeutics' P/S

Cara Therapeutics' stock price has surged recently, but its but its P/S still remains modest. Using the price-to-sales ratio alone to determine if you should sell your stock isn't sensible, however it can be a practical guide to the company's future prospects.

With revenue forecasts that are inferior to the rest of the industry, it's no surprise that Cara Therapeutics' P/S is on the lower end of the spectrum. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless there's material change, it's hard to envision a situation where the stock price will rise drastically.

It is also worth noting that we have found 4 warning signs for Cara Therapeutics (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you need to take into consideration.

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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