Shareholders in Electro Optic Systems Holdings (ASX:EOS) are in the red if they invested a year ago

Investing in stocks comes with the risk that the share price will fall. And there's no doubt that Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited (ASX:EOS) stock has had a really bad year. To wit the share price is down 51% in that time. To make matters worse, the returns over three years have also been really disappointing (the share price is 42% lower than three years ago). Even worse, it's down 20% in about a month, which isn't fun at all.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Electro Optic Systems Holdings

Electro Optic Systems Holdings isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last year Electro Optic Systems Holdings saw its revenue grow by 18%. That's definitely a respectable growth rate. Unfortunately it seems investors wanted more, because the share price is down 51% in that time. It is of course possible that the business will still deliver strong growth, it will just take longer than expected to do it. For us it's important to consider when you think a company will become profitable, if you're basing your valuation on revenue.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

If you are thinking of buying or selling Electro Optic Systems Holdings stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 5.3% in the last year, Electro Optic Systems Holdings shareholders lost 51%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 7% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Even so, be aware that Electro Optic Systems Holdings is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Of course Electro Optic Systems Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU exchanges.

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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.