Radware Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:RDWR) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3.5x might make it look like a buy right now compared to the Software industry in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 5.4x and even P/S above 13x are quite common. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may be an explanation why it's limited.

How Has Radware Performed Recently?

Radware could be doing better as its revenue has been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive revenue growth. Perhaps the P/S remains low as investors think the prospects of strong revenue growth aren't on the horizon. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

How Is Radware's Revenue Growth Trending?

Radware's P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver limited growth, and importantly, perform worse than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 1.3% decrease to the company's top line. As a result, revenue from three years ago have also fallen 4.3% overall. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next year should generate growth of 7.0% as estimated by the four analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to expand by 26%, which is noticeably more attractive.

With this information, we can see why Radware is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Apparently many shareholders weren't comfortable holding on while the company is potentially eyeing a less prosperous future.

What Does Radware's P/S Mean For Investors?

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.

We've established that Radware maintains its low P/S on the weakness of its forecast growth being lower than the wider industry, as expected. Shareholders' pessimism on the revenue prospects for the company seems to be the main contributor to the depressed P/S. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

A lot of potential risks can sit within a company's balance sheet. Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis for Radware with six simple checks on some of these key factors.

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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