You may think that with a price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 2x Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) is a stock worth checking out, seeing as almost half of all the Pharmaceuticals companies in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 2.8x and even P/S higher than 15x aren't out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the reduced P/S.

View our latest analysis for Bristol-Myers Squibb

How Has Bristol-Myers Squibb Performed Recently?

Bristol-Myers Squibb could be doing better as its revenue has been going backwards lately while most other companies have been seeing positive revenue growth. It seems that many are expecting the poor revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the P/S ratio. So while you could say the stock is cheap, investors will be looking for improvement before they see it as good value.

Keen to find out how analysts think Bristol-Myers Squibb's future stacks up against the industry? In that case, our free report is a great place to start.

How Is Bristol-Myers Squibb's Revenue Growth Trending?

Bristol-Myers Squibb'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, the company posted a result that saw barely any deviation from a year ago. Regardless, revenue has managed to lift by a handy 6.4% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the earlier period of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say that revenue growth has been inconsistent recently for the company.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with revenue decreasing 0.9% per year as estimated by the analysts watching the company. That's not great when the rest of the industry is expected to grow by 18% each year.

With this information, we are not surprised that Bristol-Myers Squibb is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Nonetheless, there's no guarantee the P/S has reached a floor yet with revenue going in reverse. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.

The Final Word

It's argued the price-to-sales ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

As we suspected, our examination of Bristol-Myers Squibb's analyst forecasts revealed that its outlook for shrinking revenue is contributing to its low P/S. At this stage investors feel the potential for an improvement in revenue isn't great enough to justify a higher P/S ratio. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for Bristol-Myers Squibb that you need to take into consideration.

If companies with solid past earnings growth is up your alley, you may wish to see this free collection of other companies with strong earnings growth and low P/E ratios.

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.