5 Low Price-to-Sales Stocks That Can Deliver Big Returns in 2025

By Rajani Lohia | May 22, 2025, 7:42 AM

Investing in stocks based on valuation metrics is considered a smart strategy. The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is often the go-to metric due to its simplicity and ease of use. However, the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is more useful for evaluating stocks of companies that are unprofitable or in early growth stages, as it helps assess value when earnings are minimal or non-existent.

Green Dot GDOT, JAKKS Pacific JAKK, PCB Bancorp PCB, Gibraltar Industries ROCK and Pfizer PFE are some companies with low price-to-sales ratios and the potential to offer higher returns.

What is the Price-to-Sales Ratio?

While a loss-making company with a negative price-to-earnings ratio falls out of investor favor, its price-to-sales can indicate the hidden strength of the business. This underrated ratio is also used to identify a recovery situation or ensure a company's growth is not overvalued.

A stock’s price-to-sales ratio reflects how much investors pay for each dollar of revenue generated by a company.

If the price-to-sales ratio is 1, investors are paying $1 for every $1 of revenues generated by the company. A stock with a price-to-sales ratio below 1 is a good bargain, as investors need to pay less than a dollar for a dollar’s worth.  

Thus, a stock with a lower price-to-sales ratio is a more suitable investment than a stock with a high price-to-sales ratio.

The price-to-sales ratio is often preferred over price-to-earnings, as companies can manipulate their earnings using various accounting measures. However, sales are harder to manipulate and are relatively reliable.

However, one should keep in mind that a company with high debt and a low price-to-sales ratio is not an ideal choice. The high debt level will have to be paid off at some point, leading to further share issuance, a rise in market cap and a higher price-to-sales ratio.

In any case, the price-to-sales ratio used in isolation cannot do the trick. One should analyze other ratios like Price/Earnings, Price/Book and Debt/Equity before arriving at any investment decision.

Screening Parameters

Price to Sales less than the Median Price to Sales for its Industry: The lower the price-to-sales ratio, the better.

Price to Earnings using F(1) estimate less than the Median Price to Earnings for its Industry: The lower, the better.

Price to Book (Common Equity) less than the Median Price to Book for its Industry: This is another parameter to ensure the value feature of a stock.

Debt to Equity (Most Recent) less than the Median Debt to Equity for its Industry: A company with less debt should have a stable price-to-sales ratio.

Current Price greater than or equal to $5: The stocks must be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher.

Zacks Rank less than or equal to #2 (Buy): Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 stocks are known to outperform, irrespective of the market environment.

Value Score less than or equal to B: Our research shows that stocks with a Value Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2, offer the best opportunities in the value investing space.

Here are five of the 17 stocks that qualified the screening:

Green Dot is a pro-consumer bank holding company and personal banking provider. The company offers products and services directly to customers through a large-scale omni-channel national distribution platform. Green Dot is a leader in prepaid cards and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), partnering with major companies like Walmart, Uber and Apple. Its asset-light model ensures high interchange fees and reduced reliance on interest income, keeping the balance sheet strong.

With low debt and significant cash reserves, Green Dot is well-positioned for growth initiatives. It is expanding its addressable market with the help of its BaaS account programs. Green Dot’s long-standing relationship with Walmart is a key driver of its operating revenues. GDOT currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 and has a Value Score of A. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

JAKKS Pacific is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and consumer products. JAKK has been benefiting from acquisitions, a solid international footprint, its focus on innovation, and collaborations with popular brands and movie franchisees. JAKKS Pacific has emerged as a diversified consumer products company, buoyed by numerous acquisitions over the past several years.

The company realized the importance of online retailing and focused on aggressively boosting online sales. JAKKS Pacific has been committed to creating digital experiences for online shoppers, such as videos, 360-degree product images and enhanced web pages. It continues to modify its sales and logistics capabilities to capitalize on this continued shift to online. JAKK currently has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Value Score of A.

Los Angeles-based PCB Bancorp serves as the holding company for PCB Bank, offering a range of banking products and services tailored to small and medium-sized businesses, individuals and professionals in Southern California. Its offerings include demand deposits, savings accounts, money market accounts, time deposits and certificates of deposit.

PCB Bancorp also provides specialized services, such as trade finance, remote deposit capture, courier deposit services, positive pay, zero balance accounts and sweep accounts. The company’s strategic expansion and branch network optimization position it for sustained balance sheet growth and strong financial performance. PCB has a Value Score of A and a Zacks Rank #2 at present.

Buffalo, NY-based Gibraltar manufactures and distributes products to the industrial and building market. The products range from ventilation and expanded metal to mail storage solutions, as well as rain dispersion products and solutions. ROCK has been benefiting from its focus on operational improvements and the Three-Pillar Strategy. The company continues to accelerate the implementation of three pillars through portfolio management initiatives, improvement of the business system and strengthening of the organization.

Gibraltar continues to accelerate its 80/20 initiatives in products and operations, optimizing the supply chain with market price actions. The company's focus on the 80/20 initiative has propelled its Residential segment’s performance. Also, the high demand for agricultural facilities suggests a solid growth runway, especially for high-tech produce farms. ROCK currently has a Value Score of B and a Zacks Rank #2.

Based in New York, Pfizer markets a wide range of drugs and vaccines. The company’s Biopharma reporting segment includes three broad therapeutic areas — Primary Care, Specialty Care and Oncology. PFE has committed significant resources toward developing treatments in oncology, internal medicine, rare diseases, immunology, inflammation, vaccines and hospitals.

Pfizer expects better non-COVID operational revenue growth in the upcoming quarters, driven by its products like Vyndaqel and Prevnar; launches like Abrysvo, Velsipity and Penbraya; and newly acquired products, including those acquired from Seagen. PFE currently has a Value Score of A and a Zacks Rank #2.

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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance

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Pfizer Inc. (PFE): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (JAKK): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Green Dot Corporation (GDOT): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Gibraltar Industries, Inc. (ROCK): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
PCB Bancorp (PCB): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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