Despite an already strong run, Baozun Inc. (NASDAQ:BZUN) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 27% in the last thirty days. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 37% over that time.

Even after such a large jump in price, Baozun may still be sending bullish signals at the moment with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x, since almost half of all companies in the Multiline Retail industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 0.9x and even P/S higher than 3x 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 Baozun's P/S Mean For Shareholders?

Baozun could be doing better as it's been growing revenue less than most other companies lately. It seems that many are expecting the uninspiring revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the growth of the P/S ratio. If you still like the company, you'd be hoping revenue doesn't get any worse and that you could pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

How Is Baozun's Revenue Growth Trending?

Baozun'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.

If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a worthy increase of 4.9%. Although, the latest three year period in total hasn't been as good as it didn't manage to provide any growth at all. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Looking ahead now, revenue is anticipated to climb by 4.9% each year during the coming three years according to the ten analysts following the company. With the industry predicted to deliver 13% growth each year, the company is positioned for a weaker revenue result.

With this information, we can see why Baozun 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.

The Bottom Line On Baozun's P/S

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Baozun's P/S close to the industry median. 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.

As we suspected, our examination of Baozun's analyst forecasts revealed that its inferior revenue outlook is contributing to its low P/S. 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.

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

Of course, profitable companies with a history of great earnings growth are generally safer bets. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have reasonable P/E ratios and have grown earnings strongly.

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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.