Moderna, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MRNA) price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 3x might make it look like a strong buy right now compared to the Biotechs industry in the United States, where around half of the companies have P/S ratios above 10x and even P/S above 60x 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 so limited.

What Does Moderna's Recent Performance Look Like?

While the industry has experienced revenue growth lately, Moderna's revenue has gone into reverse gear, which is not great. It seems that many are expecting the poor revenue performance to persist, which has repressed the P/S ratio. If this is the case, then existing shareholders will probably struggle to get excited about the future direction of the share price.

If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Moderna.

How Is Moderna's Revenue Growth Trending?

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

In reviewing the last year of financials, we were disheartened to see the company's revenues fell to the tune of 44%. As a result, revenue from three years ago have also fallen 57% overall. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been undesirable for the company.

Looking ahead now, revenue is anticipated to slump, contracting by 9.4% per year during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. Meanwhile, the broader industry is forecast to expand by 127% per year, which paints a poor picture.

With this information, we are not surprised that Moderna is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. However, shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term. Even just maintaining these prices could be difficult to achieve as the weak outlook is weighing down the shares.

What We Can Learn From Moderna's P/S?

While the price-to-sales ratio shouldn't be the defining factor in whether you buy a stock or not, it's quite a capable barometer of revenue expectations.

It's clear to see that Moderna maintains its low P/S on the weakness of its forecast for sliding revenue, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/S as they concede future revenue probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Having said that, be aware Moderna is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis, 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.

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.