Fox Factory Holding Corp.'s (NASDAQ:FOXF) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.3x may not look like an appealing investment opportunity when you consider close to half the companies in the Auto Components industry in the United States have P/S ratios below 0.7x. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's as high as it is.

What Does Fox Factory Holding's Recent Performance Look Like?

Fox Factory Holding hasn't been tracking well recently as its declining revenue compares poorly to other companies, which have seen some growth in their revenues on average. Perhaps the market is expecting the poor revenue to reverse, justifying it's current high P/S.. If not, then existing shareholders may be extremely nervous about the viability of the share price.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The High P/S Ratio?

Fox Factory Holding's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver solid growth, and importantly, perform better than the industry.

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 17%. That put a dampener on the good run it was having over the longer-term as its three-year revenue growth is still a noteworthy 19% in total. Accordingly, while they would have preferred to keep the run going, shareholders would be roughly satisfied with the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 12% as estimated by the eight analysts watching the company. That's shaping up to be materially lower than the 20% growth forecast for the broader industry.

With this information, we find it concerning that Fox Factory Holding is trading at a P/S higher than the industry. 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.

What We Can Learn From Fox Factory Holding's 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.

It comes as a surprise to see Fox Factory Holding trade at such a high P/S given the revenue forecasts look less than stellar. When we see a weak revenue outlook, we suspect the share price faces a much greater risk of declining, bringing back down the P/S figures. This places shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 3 warning signs for Fox Factory Holding (1 is potentially serious!) that we have uncovered.

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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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.