There wouldn't be many who think Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated's (NASDAQ:VRTX) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 9.8x is worth a mention when the median P/S for the Biotechs industry in the United States is similar at about 10x. While this might not raise any eyebrows, if the P/S ratio is not justified investors could be missing out on a potential opportunity or ignoring looming disappointment.

How Vertex Pharmaceuticals Has Been Performing

Recent times haven't been great for Vertex Pharmaceuticals as its revenue has been rising slower than most other companies. Perhaps the market is expecting future revenue performance to lift, which has kept the P/S from declining. However, if this isn't the case, investors might get caught out paying too much for the stock.

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

In order to justify its P/S ratio, Vertex Pharmaceuticals would need to produce growth that's similar to the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a decent 10% gain to the company's revenues. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 49% overall rise in revenue, aided somewhat by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 8.5% per year over the next three years. With the industry predicted to deliver 114% growth per year, the company is positioned for a weaker revenue result.

With this information, we find it interesting that Vertex Pharmaceuticals is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. Apparently many investors in the company are less bearish than analysts indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock right now. Maintaining these prices will be difficult to achieve as this level of revenue growth is likely to weigh down the shares eventually.

What Does Vertex Pharmaceuticals' P/S Mean For Investors?

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.

When you consider that Vertex Pharmaceuticals' revenue growth estimates are fairly muted compared to the broader industry, it's easy to see why we consider it unexpected to be trading at its current P/S ratio. At present, we aren't confident in the P/S as the predicted future revenues aren't likely to support a more positive sentiment for long. This places shareholders' investments at risk and potential investors in danger of paying an unnecessary premium.

The company's balance sheet is another key area for risk analysis. You can assess many of the main risks through our free balance sheet analysis for Vertex Pharmaceuticals with six simple checks.

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.