To the annoyance of some shareholders, Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PIRS) shares are down a considerable 27% in the last month, which continues a horrid run for the company. For any long-term shareholders, the last month ends a year to forget by locking in a 83% share price decline.

Since its price has dipped substantially, Pieris Pharmaceuticals may look like a strong buying opportunity at present with its price-to-sales (or "P/S") ratio of 0.3x, considering almost half of all companies in the Biotechs industry in the United States have P/S ratios greater than 11.6x and even P/S higher than 49x aren't out of the ordinary. 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.

See our latest analysis for Pieris Pharmaceuticals

How Pieris Pharmaceuticals Has Been Performing

Pieris Pharmaceuticals certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue more than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/S ratio is low because investors think this strong revenue performance might be less impressive moving forward. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

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

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

Pieris Pharmaceuticals' P/S ratio would be typical for a company that's expected to deliver very poor growth or even falling revenue, and importantly, perform much worse than the industry.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 66% gain to the company's top line. Revenue has also lifted 5.9% in aggregate from three years ago, mostly thanks to the last 12 months of growth. Accordingly, shareholders would have probably been satisfied with the medium-term rates of revenue growth.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should bring diminished returns, with revenue decreasing 100% each year as estimated by the lone analyst watching the company. With the industry predicted to deliver 221% growth per annum, that's a disappointing outcome.

With this in consideration, we find it intriguing that Pieris Pharmaceuticals' P/S is closely matching its industry peers. However, shrinking revenues are unlikely to lead to a stable P/S over the longer term. There's potential for the P/S to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its top-line growth.