With a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 6.8x PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDFS) may be sending very bearish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all the Semiconductor companies in the United States have P/S ratios under 4x and even P/S lower than 1.6x are not unusual. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.

How Has PDF Solutions Performed Recently?

PDF Solutions 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. However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The High P/S Ratio?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered virtually the same number to the company's top line as the year before. Although pleasingly revenue has lifted 71% in aggregate from three years ago, notwithstanding the last 12 months. So while the company has done a solid job in the past, it's somewhat concerning to see revenue growth decline as much as it has.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the four analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 22% over the next year. With the industry predicted to deliver 38% growth, the company is positioned for a weaker revenue result.

With this in consideration, we believe it doesn't make sense that PDF Solutions' P/S is outpacing its industry peers. It seems most investors are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects, but the analyst cohort is not so confident this will happen. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as this level of revenue growth is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

The Final Word

We'd say the price-to-sales ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

Despite analysts forecasting some poorer-than-industry revenue growth figures for PDF Solutions, this doesn't appear to be impacting the P/S in the slightest. Right now we aren't comfortable with the high P/S as the predicted future revenues aren't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. Unless these conditions improve markedly, it's very challenging to accept these prices as being reasonable.

The company's balance sheet is another key area for risk analysis. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for PDF Solutions with six simple checks.

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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