Xponential Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:XPOF) shares have retraced a considerable 25% in the last month, reversing a fair amount of their solid recent performance. The drop over the last 30 days has capped off a tough year for shareholders, with the share price down 36% in that time.

In spite of the heavy fall in price, it's still not a stretch to say that Xponential Fitness' price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.3x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" compared to the Hospitality industry in the United States, where the median P/S ratio is around 1.4x. However, investors might be overlooking a clear opportunity or potential setback if there is no rational basis for the P/S.

What Does Xponential Fitness' Recent Performance Look Like?

Xponential Fitness 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 lift, which has kept the P/S from declining. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

What Are Revenue Growth Metrics Telling Us About The P/S?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should be matching the industry for P/S ratios like Xponential Fitness' to be considered reasonable.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 15%. The strong recent performance means it was also able to grow revenue by 176% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders would have definitely welcomed those medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Looking ahead now, revenue is anticipated to climb by 1.6% during the coming year according to the eleven analysts following the company. With the industry predicted to deliver 13% growth, the company is positioned for a weaker revenue result.

With this information, we find it interesting that Xponential Fitness is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. Apparently many investors in the company are less bearish than analysts indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock right now. Maintaining these prices will be difficult to achieve as this level of revenue growth is likely to weigh down the shares eventually.

What We Can Learn From Xponential Fitness' P/S?

Following Xponential Fitness' share price tumble, its P/S is just clinging on to the industry median P/S. 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 at the analysts forecasts of Xponential Fitness' revenue prospects has shown that its inferior revenue outlook isn't negatively impacting its P/S as much as we would have predicted. At present, we aren't confident in the P/S as the predicted future revenues aren't likely to support a more positive sentiment for long. A positive change is needed in order to justify the current price-to-sales ratio.

Plus, you should also learn about these 4 warning signs we've spotted with Xponential Fitness (including 2 which don't sit too well with us).

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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