Investors Still Aren't Entirely Convinced By Kaixin Holdings' (NASDAQ:KXIN) Revenues Despite 31% Price Jump

Simply Wall St · 09/29 12:45

Kaixin Holdings (NASDAQ:KXIN) shareholders are no doubt pleased to see that the share price has bounced 31% in the last month, although it is still struggling to make up recently lost ground. But the last month did very little to improve the 95% share price decline over the last year.

Although its price has surged higher, it's still not a stretch to say that Kaixin Holdings' price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.1x right now seems quite "middle-of-the-road" compared to the Specialty Retail industry in the United States, where the median P/S ratio is around 0.4x. 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.

View our latest analysis for Kaixin Holdings

ps-multiple-vs-industry
NasdaqCM:KXIN Price to Sales Ratio vs Industry September 29th 2024

How Kaixin Holdings Has Been Performing

As an illustration, revenue has deteriorated at Kaixin Holdings over the last year, which is not ideal at all. It might be that many expect the company to put the disappointing revenue performance behind them over the coming period, which has kept the P/S from falling. If not, then existing shareholders may be a little nervous about the viability of the share price.

We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Kaixin Holdings' earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Do Revenue Forecasts Match The P/S Ratio?

Kaixin Holdings' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's only expected to deliver moderate growth, and importantly, perform in line with the industry.

Taking a look back first, the company's revenue growth last year wasn't something to get excited about as it posted a disappointing decline of 62%. Spectacularly, three year revenue growth has ballooned by several orders of magnitude, despite the drawbacks experienced in the last 12 months. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company, but investors will want to ask why it is now in decline.

Comparing that recent medium-term revenue trajectory with the industry's one-year growth forecast of 3.7% shows it's noticeably more attractive.

With this information, we find it interesting that Kaixin Holdings is trading at a fairly similar P/S compared to the industry. It may be that most investors are not convinced the company can maintain its recent growth rates.

The Key Takeaway

Kaixin Holdings appears to be back in favour with a solid price jump bringing its P/S back in line with other companies in the industry 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.

To our surprise, Kaixin Holdings revealed its three-year revenue trends aren't contributing to its P/S as much as we would have predicted, given they look better than current industry expectations. There could be some unobserved threats to revenue preventing the P/S ratio from matching this positive performance. It appears some are indeed anticipating revenue instability, because the persistence of these recent medium-term conditions would normally provide a boost to the share price.

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 4 warning signs for Kaixin Holdings that you need to be mindful of.

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.