Take Care Before Jumping Onto Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOX) Even Though It's 29% Cheaper

Simply Wall St · 09/28 12:46

Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:BIOX) shareholders that were waiting for something to happen have been dealt a blow with a 29% share price drop in the last month. Instead of being rewarded, shareholders who have already held through the last twelve months are now sitting on a 30% share price drop.

Although its price has dipped substantially, you could still be forgiven for feeling indifferent about Bioceres Crop Solutions' P/S ratio of 1.1x, since the median price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio for the Chemicals industry in the United States is also close to 1.4x. Although, it's not wise to simply ignore the P/S without explanation as investors may be disregarding a distinct opportunity or a costly mistake.

See our latest analysis for Bioceres Crop Solutions

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NasdaqGS:BIOX Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry September 28th 2024

What Does Bioceres Crop Solutions' Recent Performance Look Like?

With its revenue growth in positive territory compared to the declining revenue of most other companies, Bioceres Crop Solutions has been doing quite well of late. Perhaps the market is expecting its current strong performance to taper off in accordance to the rest of the industry, which has kept the P/S contained. Those who are bullish on Bioceres Crop Solutions will be hoping that this isn't the case, so that they can pick up the stock at a slightly lower valuation.

Want the full picture on analyst estimates for the company? Then our free report on Bioceres Crop Solutions will help you uncover what's on the horizon.

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

The only time you'd be comfortable seeing a P/S like Bioceres Crop Solutions' is when the company's growth is tracking the industry closely.

Taking a look back first, we see that the company managed to grow revenues by a handy 11% last year. Pleasingly, revenue has also lifted 125% in aggregate from three years ago, partly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a great job of growing revenues over that time.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the five analysts covering the company suggest revenue should grow by 11% per year over the next three years. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 6.6% each year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that Bioceres Crop Solutions' P/S is closely matching its industry peers. Apparently some shareholders are skeptical of the forecasts and have been accepting lower selling prices.

The Final Word

Bioceres Crop Solutions' plummeting stock price has brought its P/S back to a similar region as the rest of the industry. 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 Bioceres Crop Solutions currently trades on a lower than expected P/S since its forecasted revenue growth is higher than the wider industry. When we see a strong revenue outlook, with growth outpacing the industry, we can only assume potential uncertainty around these figures are what might be placing slight pressure on the P/S ratio. It appears some are indeed anticipating revenue instability, because these conditions should normally provide a boost to the share price.

Before you take the next step, you should know about the 2 warning signs for Bioceres Crop Solutions (1 is significant!) that we have uncovered.

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.