Price-to-Sales Ratio Calculator

Find a company's price-to-sales ratio.

Result

4.00

How it is calculated

The price-to-sales ratio compares what the stock market values a company at with the revenue it generates: P/S = market capitalisation / revenue. Market capitalisation is share price times shares outstanding. Revenue is usually the trailing twelve months or the last fiscal year; use the same currency for both numbers.

The result is a multiple shown with two decimals: a P/S of 4 means investors pay 4 units for each unit of annual sales. Revenue must be greater than zero and market capitalisation cannot be negative; otherwise there is no result. Because it ignores profit, debt and growth, a P/S is best compared among firms in the same industry and not across sectors. A low ratio is not automatically cheap, and a high ratio may be justified by fast growth.

Worked example

A company has a market capitalisation of 12,000,000,000 and revenue of 3,000,000,000 over the last year. P/S = 12,000,000,000 / 3,000,000,000 = 4. The tool shows a ratio of 4.00, meaning the market values the company at four times its yearly sales.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Mixing units, such as market cap in billions and revenue in millions, which changes the ratio by a factor of 1,000.
  • Using the share price instead of total market capitalisation, or revenue per share against total market cap.
  • Comparing P/S of companies in different industries, where margins differ widely.
  • Using revenue from an old year for a fast-growing company, which inflates the ratio.

Sources

About this calculator

The price-to-sales ratio (P/S) divides a company's market capitalization by its total revenue over a trailing period (usually the last twelve months), giving a rough measure of how much investors are paying for each dollar of sales. It's calculated as P/S = Market Cap ÷ Revenue, or equivalently share price divided by revenue per share.

Unlike the P/E ratio, P/S remains meaningful for companies with negative earnings — early-stage growth companies, biotech firms pre-profitability, or businesses in a cyclical downturn — since revenue is harder to manipulate than net income and rarely turns negative.

Equity analysts and portfolio managers use P/S to screen and compare companies within the same sector, retail investors evaluate growth stocks that aren't yet profitable, and value investors look for low P/S ratios as a potential signal of undervaluation relative to peers.

Was this helpful?

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Two companies can both show a P/S of 2 and still be very different if one keeps a 30 percent net margin on its sales and the other keeps 2 percent. Read the ratio together with margins and growth. You can also use per-share figures: price per share divided by revenue per share gives the same result as market cap over revenue. Which sector are you comparing, and which revenue period do you use?

Popular calculators

All Calculators