DL Holdings Group Limited's (HKG:1709) Business Is Yet to Catch Up With Its Share Price

DL Holdings Group Limited's (HKG:1709) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 32.3x may look like a poor investment opportunity when you consider close to half the companies in the Capital Markets industry in Hong Kong have P/S ratios below 3.2x. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.

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Check out our latest analysis for DL Holdings Group

What Does DL Holdings Group's Recent Performance Look Like?

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at DL Holdings Group over the last year, which is not ideal at all. One possibility is that the P/S is high because investors think the company will still do enough to outperform the broader industry in the near future. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The High P/S Ratio?

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

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 1.8% decrease to the company's top line. The last three years don't look nice either as the company has shrunk revenue by 63% in aggregate. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

In contrast to the company, the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 38% over the next year, which really puts the company's recent medium-term revenue decline into perspective.

With this in mind, we find it worrying that DL Holdings Group's P/S exceeds that of its industry peers. Apparently many investors in the company are way more bullish than recent times would indicate and aren't willing to let go of their stock at any price. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent revenue trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

What We Can Learn From DL Holdings Group's P/S?

We'd say the price-to-sales ratio's power isn't primarily as a valuation instrument but rather to gauge current investor sentiment and future expectations.

We've established that DL Holdings Group currently trades on a much higher than expected P/S since its recent revenues have been in decline over the medium-term. When we see revenue heading backwards and underperforming the industry forecasts, we feel the possibility of the share price declining is very real, bringing the P/S back into the realm of reasonability. If recent medium-term revenue trends continue, it will place shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

Having said that, be aware DL Holdings Group is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is significant.

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.