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Oscar Health, Inc.'s (NYSE:OSCR) Shares Leap 86% Yet They're Still Not Telling The Full Story

Despite an already strong run, Oscar Health, Inc. (NYSE:OSCR) shares have been powering on, with a gain of 86% in the last thirty days. Unfortunately, the gains of the last month did little to right the losses of the last year with the stock still down 27% over that time.

Even after such a large jump in price, when close to half the companies operating in the United States' Insurance industry have price-to-sales ratios (or "P/S") above 0.9x, you may still consider Oscar Health as an enticing stock to check out with its 0.3x P/S ratio. However, the P/S might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

View our latest analysis for Oscar Health

ps-multiple-vs-industry
ps-multiple-vs-industry

How Oscar Health Has Been Performing

Oscar Health certainly has been doing a good job lately as it's been growing revenue more than most other companies. It might be that many expect the strong revenue performance to degrade substantially, which has repressed the share price, and thus the P/S ratio. If the company manages to stay the course, then investors should be rewarded with a share price that matches its revenue figures.

Keen to find out how analysts think Oscar Health's 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?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the industry for P/S ratios like Oscar Health's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 111% gain to the company's top line. The latest three year period has also seen an incredible overall rise in revenue, aided by its incredible short-term performance. So we can start by confirming that the company has done a tremendous job of growing revenue over that time.

Turning to the outlook, the next three years should generate growth of 20% each year as estimated by the four analysts watching the company. Meanwhile, the rest of the industry is forecast to only expand by 7.1% per year, which is noticeably less attractive.

With this information, we find it odd that Oscar Health is trading at a P/S lower than the industry. Apparently some shareholders are doubtful of the forecasts and have been accepting significantly lower selling prices.

The Key Takeaway

The latest share price surge wasn't enough to lift Oscar Health's P/S close to the industry median. Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-sales ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

Oscar Health's analyst forecasts revealed that its superior revenue outlook isn't contributing to its P/S anywhere near as much as we would have predicted. The reason for this depressed P/S could potentially be found in the risks the market is pricing in. At least price risks look to be very low, but investors seem to think future revenues could see a lot of volatility.

There are also other vital risk factors to consider and we've discovered 3 warning signs for Oscar Health (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you're unsure about the strength of Oscar Health's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

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