Sakae Holdings Ltd. (SGX:5DO) shareholders won't be pleased to see that the share price has had a very rough month, dropping 26% and undoing the prior period's positive 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.

After such a large drop in price, Sakae Holdings may be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.8x, since almost half of all companies in the Hospitality industry in Singapore have P/S ratios greater than 1.7x and even P/S higher than 4x are not unusual. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

What Does Sakae Holdings' P/S Mean For Shareholders?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Sakae Holdings over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/S is low because investors think the company won't do enough to avoid underperforming the broader industry in the near future. However, if this doesn't eventuate then existing shareholders may be feeling optimistic about the future direction of the share price.

How Is Sakae Holdings' Revenue Growth Trending?

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

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 16%. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 32% in aggregate. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 18% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this information, we are not surprised that Sakae Holdings is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. However, we think shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term, which could set up shareholders for future disappointment. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as recent revenue trends are already weighing down the shares.

The Final Word

The southerly movements of Sakae Holdings' shares means its P/S is now sitting at a pretty low level. 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's no surprise that Sakae Holdings maintains its low P/S off the back of its sliding revenue over the medium-term. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises either. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it's hard to see the share price moving strongly in either direction in the near future under these circumstances.

Don't forget that there may be other risks. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Sakae Holdings that you should be aware of.

If strong companies turning a profit tickle your fancy, then you'll want to check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a low P/E (but have proven they can grow earnings).

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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.