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Classic Value Investors

Low Price-to-Sales Ratio

Low Price-to-Sales Ratio is a Classic Value Investors screen. It checks every NSE-listed stock against 1 condition computed from nightly data, after excluding heavily pledged promoters and very small market caps. This page explains the rule, each figure and its source. It lists no stocks and is not advice.

What it does and why

Price-to-earnings and price-to-book fail systematically in specific circumstances: a loss-making company with a strong revenue ramp, a capital-heavy business writing down assets, or a turnaround where margins are temporarily depressed. In all of these cases, P/S remains computable and meaningful. Buying revenue cheaply is a bet that margins will recover or expand — if a company trading at 1x sales can achieve a 10% net margin, you have effectively bought earnings at 10x before the market prices in the margin recovery. The quality gate (positive PAT and market cap above 100 Cr) ensures the screen surfaces undervalued businesses rather than distressed ones that are cheap for a reason.

The rule, step by step

A stock must satisfy every condition below. Conditions are grouped under the pillar they test.

Revenue Valuation

  • P/S < 1

Business Viability

Described in the philosophy; not a pass/fail condition in the current rule

Hard excludes

  • Promoter pledge above 30% of the promoter's holding
  • Market cap below ₹500 crore
Passes the screen

Ranked by P/S, lowest first.

The figures it uses

P/S

Used in a condition
Formula
Market cap ÷ latest annual revenue, only when revenue is positive
Input fields
market_cap, revenue
Source of record
Upstox · public historical candles, NSE_EQ|{ISIN} (no auth)FinEdge · /api/v1/daily-quotes/{symbol} (fallback)FinEdge · /api/v1/financials/{symbol}?statement_code=pl&period=annualFinEdge · /api/v1/shareholdings/summary/{symbol}?period=quarterly
Corporate actions
Adjusted for corporate actions before use
Refresh
Recomputed nightly (06:30 IST job); rows older than 3 days are excluded from screens

Promoter Pledge

Hard exclude input
Formula
Pledged shares as a share of the promoter's own holding: pledgedSharesPct ÷ promoter holding × 100; blank when the quarter is not listed
Input fields
pledgedSharesPct, promoter holding
Source of record
FinEdge · /api/v1/shareholdings/summary/{symbol}?period=quarterlyFinEdge · /api/v1/shareholdings/pattern/{symbol}?period=quarterly
Refresh
Recomputed nightly (06:30 IST job); rows older than 3 days are excluded from screens

Market Cap

Hard exclude input
Formula
Close × paid-up equity shares ÷ 10,000,000 (₹ crore)
Input fields
close, paidUpEquityShares
Source of record
Upstox · public historical candles, NSE_EQ|{ISIN} (no auth)FinEdge · /api/v1/daily-quotes/{symbol} (fallback)FinEdge · /api/v1/shareholdings/summary/{symbol}?period=quarterly
Corporate actions
Adjusted for corporate actions before use
Refresh
Recomputed nightly (06:30 IST job); rows older than 3 days are excluded from screens

What each figure means

Price-to-Sales Ratio

Market capitalisation divided by trailing twelve-month net revenue. Net revenue sourced from FinEdge income statement (statement_code=pl). Screen thresholds: below 2x for deep value, below 5x with quality filters for growth-at-value.

Low is better

Market Capitalisation (₹ Cr)

Current share price multiplied by total shares outstanding, expressed in crore rupees. Screen threshold: above 100 Cr.

High is better

PAT — Latest Annual (₹ Cr)

Profit after tax for the most recently completed fiscal year, sourced from FinEdge income statement (field: profitOrLossAttributableToOwners for consolidated). Screen threshold: positive (greater than zero).

High is better

Try the rule

Type hypothetical values to see which conditions they satisfy. These are not real stocks and nothing here is stored.

  • P/S < 1—

Enter values to begin

How sensitive is it?

How many stocks pass if this threshold were set differently. Counts only; no stocks are named.

A worked example

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Evidence

What the harness measured

no_verified_figureNot yet tested

We have not measured this screen yet, so there is no record to explain.

Live monitoring

Not yet testable — 5 of 6 points needed to chart a rolling information coefficient.

  • 5-day IC -0.020 · signal date 2026-10-13 · n 4477
  • 22-day IC 0.015 · signal date 2026-09-10 · n 3881

This is a historical, statistical measurement produced by FINOME TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD's research harness on past data. It is not a prediction, and past results do not indicate future results. The universe is today's Nifty 500 constituents, so the sample is affected by survivorship bias. It describes how a screen's selections behaved in the past and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation.

Run this screen

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Rule version 1.0.0

Questions

How is this screen calculated?
Each stock is tested against 1 condition using figures computed from exchange prices and company filings, adjusted for corporate actions. The rule is versioned; this page shows version 1.0.0.
How often does the screen update?
The figures are recomputed once each trading day after the nightly compute. A stock whose figures are more than three days old is left out rather than shown stale.
Is this investment advice?
No. This is educational material describing a screening method. It does not recommend any security and does not consider your circumstances.
Educational use only — GoQuant is a research tool. This page explains a screening method and is not a recommendation. Investment advice is provided by FINOME TECHNOLOGIES PVT LTD (AltQube), SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, registration no. INA000018373, under a signed advisory agreement and after a risk profile. Past performance is not indicative of future results.