The NACCO Industries, Inc. (NYSE:NC) share price has done very well over the last month, posting an excellent gain of 25%. The bad news is that even after the stocks recovery in the last 30 days, shareholders are still underwater by about 2.4% over the last year.

In spite of the firm bounce in price, NACCO Industries may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 1.1x, since almost half of all companies in the Oil and Gas industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 1.8x and even P/S higher than 5x 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.

What Does NACCO Industries' P/S Mean For Shareholders?

It looks like revenue growth has deserted NACCO Industries recently, which is not something to boast about. Perhaps the market believes the recent lacklustre revenue performance is a sign of future underperformance relative to industry peers, hurting the P/S. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

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

In order to justify its P/S ratio, NACCO Industries would need to produce sluggish growth that's trailing the industry.

If we review the last year of revenue, the company posted a result that saw barely any deviation from a year ago. However, a few strong years before that means that it was still able to grow revenue by an impressive 35% in total over the last three years. Accordingly, shareholders will be pleased, but also have some questions to ponder about the last 12 months.

Comparing that to the industry, which is predicted to deliver 70% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker, based on recent medium-term annualised revenue results.

With this in consideration, it's easy to understand why NACCO Industries' P/S falls short of the mark set by its industry peers. It seems most investors are expecting to see the recent limited growth rates continue into the future and are only willing to pay a reduced amount for the stock.

What We Can Learn From NACCO Industries' P/S?

Despite NACCO Industries' share price climbing recently, its P/S still lags most other companies. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-sales ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

As we suspected, our examination of NACCO Industries revealed its three-year revenue trends are contributing to its low P/S, given they look worse than current industry expectations. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless the recent medium-term conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for NACCO Industries you should know about.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on NACCO Industries, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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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.