Despite an already strong run, Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 26% in the last thirty days. The last 30 days bring the annual gain to a very sharp 68%.
Following the firm bounce in price, you could be forgiven for thinking Grab Holdings is a stock to steer clear of with a price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") of 7.7x, considering almost half the companies in the United States' Transportation industry have P/S ratios below 1.9x. Nonetheless, we'd need to dig a little deeper to determine if there is a rational basis for the highly elevated P/S.
See our latest analysis for Grab Holdings
With revenue growth that's superior to most other companies of late, Grab Holdings has been doing relatively well. It seems that many are expecting the strong revenue performance to persist, which has raised the P/S. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.
If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Grab Holdings.In order to justify its P/S ratio, Grab Holdings would need to produce outstanding growth that's well in excess of the industry.
If we review the last year of revenue growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 22%. Pleasingly, revenue has also lifted 259% in aggregate from three years ago, thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Therefore, it's fair to say the revenue growth recently has been superb for the company.
Looking ahead now, revenue is anticipated to climb by 19% each year during the coming three years according to the analysts following the company. That's shaping up to be materially higher than the 8.7% per year growth forecast for the broader industry.
With this in mind, it's not hard to understand why Grab Holdings' P/S is high relative to its industry peers. It seems most investors are expecting this strong future growth and are willing to pay more for the stock.
Grab Holdings' P/S has grown nicely over the last month thanks to a handy boost in the share price. 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.
Our look into Grab Holdings shows that its P/S ratio remains high on the merit of its strong future revenues. At this stage investors feel the potential for a deterioration in revenues is quite remote, justifying the elevated P/S ratio. Unless these conditions change, they will continue to provide strong support to the share price.
And what about other risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Grab Holdings you should know about.
If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Grab Holdings, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.
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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.